Sword Art Online: My Story
by AssassinErik
Summary: This is basically my own version of Sword Art Online with my own original character. It's nothing really special, but it is something I've been thinking of doing for a while and it's something I'm honestly very proud of right now. I hope it's something you can enjoy reading and I really look forward to writing more chapters for this story.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Welcome to SAO

(November 6th, 2022)

Today was finally the day that so many people throughout the country of Japan have been waiting for. This was the day where the very first MMORPG for a Virtual Reality system was being released. This game wasn't made for any of the already popular brand names such as PlayStation, XBOX, or Nintendo. No, this game was made for a system from a company by the name of Argus which would soon go down in history as one of the newest gaming companies making a true revolution in virtual reality gaming forever. This game was called Sword Art Online.

Over a year ago, the device for newly advanced VR gaming called the NerveGear by Argus was announced. It was said that the NerveGear was capable of making gaming experiences feel just as real as being in the real world. And that's not even an exaggeration, players really would feel like they are inside of a world that's just outside of the real one. After a whole year of waiting and anticipation, the NerveGear was officially released to the market. By the time of the NerveGear's official release, Sword Art Online was announced to the public as the very first game made for the NerveGear and that it was already ninety percent finished.

Around the time of August, those who had already purchased their own NerveGear systems were given the chance to experience SAO for themselves as beta testers. Throughout the beta test, the beta testers have all helped the game developers with fixing any noticeable bugs and giving them some new ideas of what could help make the game even better. The beta test took up to around a whole month.

Two full months had passed since the closing of the beta test, and SAO was finally up for preorder. Many people pre-ordered their copies off of the website of where the game was being sold while others were waiting and camping outside of videogame stores to get their copies of the game. And finally, came November 6th, when the game was on sale in stores. That very day, many people were able to purchase their copies of the game at full price while the beta testers all got discounts for helping finalize the game.

While the huge shopping spree for the game was still going on, over at a little house, a young man with medium-length black hair and eyes, dressed in a black shirt and pants was sitting at his computer desk reading a magazine that's main topic was on the NerveGear, Sword Art Online, and their creator: Kayaba Akihiko.

The young man looked over at his little digital clock that sat right next to his computer desk, right on top of his bedroom windowsill. The clock readout 12:56, meaning he had exactly four more minutes before the game officially launched. He decided to already put on his NerveGear, connect it the nearest socket in the wall, and have the game up and ready for when the time was right.

He then made sure to lay down in a nice, cosy position on his bed. He looked at the little digital clock that was built into the visor of the NerveGear. He waited until he saw that the time turned to 13:00 and he smirked as he closed his eyes.

"Link START!"

After activating his NerveGear, everything went completely white for him. He then saw a rainbow of a lot of colourful rods moving towards and past him. He then noticed the NerveGear perform some sort of calibration by touching every part of his body for the NerveGear to read. Once that was out of the way, the next thing he needed to do was to select his language, which was Japanese. He then had to put in a username and a password for his NerveGear to memorize as well as pick an avatar that he wanted to identify as, which was a male who looked fairly similar to him, only with a more masculine face and with his hair being a bit longer on the right side of his head and shorter on the left.

Once all that was out of the way, he then saw a set of words that simply said: Welcome to Sword Art Online! He then saw more rods moving past him, only this time they were a simple combination of blue, purple, and white. The more the rods moved past him, the brighter everything seemed to get and everything was becoming completely white again. And then, in an instant, he was looking up at a sky while little pieces that looked like glowing crystals were floating up above him and disappearing.

He then looked down at the ground, noticing a pair of bright brown boots, black pants, a dark blue shirt with a leather armoured chest plate over it. He then looked at his hands, which had fingerless gloves over them that were the same colour as the shoes he was wearing. He lowered his left hand as he tightly clenched his right one in pure glee. He looked up ahead of him and smiled.

"Hello world, I'm back." The young man said as many more players were just logging in and already starting to enjoy their first experiences of the game

The young man then saw an objective appear right in front of him. The objective read: "Welcome to the Town of Beginnings, the starting city of Floor One of Castle Aincrad. Before you can begin your adventure, you need to first head on over to the shopping district for weapons and items."

Below the objective was a set of two optional buttons; one saying Okay and the other saying Skip. Once he pressed the Okay button displayed below the Objective, a little yellow misty line started to appear and direct him to where the shopping district was. As he followed the line, he listened a little to some of the conversations that some of the other players were having amongst themselves. Some of them were talking about forming parties, in a flirty matter to be noted, while others were talking about how far and fast they were probably going to get through in the game.

Once he reached the shopping district, he noticed a lot of different merchants selling many different things, such as weapons, items, jewellery, food, etc. As he ran towards the weapons shop, he heard someone calling.

"Hey! Excuse me! You, in the blue and black!" the voice called out to the young man

The young man stopped running and looked behind him to see another player running towards him. This other player was a young man who looked around the same age as him and just as tall too, who had spiky blonde hair, blue eyes, and was wearing a purple shirt and pants while wearing the same leather armour, boots, and gloves that the young man was wearing. The other player looked at the young man with a hopeful look.

"Hey, I'm looking for someone who would be willing to help me out with understanding how this game works. You wouldn't happen to be one of the beta testers for this game, would you?" the other player asked

"…Well…" The young man hesitated for a little while "…Yes, I was a beta tester, but I'm kinda busy getting my weapon and items."

"Well then, do you mind if I go with you? I really need someone to assist me in understanding this game before I headed out to get my own weapon and items." The other player said

"I don't really know." The young man retorted

"Come on, please!" The other player pleaded

The young man could tell that the other player was really desperate for someone to help him out and, well, he didn't really want to leave him alone to fend for himself. He couldn't find it in him to do so.

"Okay, sure. Once we get our weapons and items, I'll help you out. We'll first go to the outside lands of the town and I'll show you how to fight some enemies." The young man answered

The other player's eyes lit up in pure glee.

"Alright!" The other player cheered as he jumped up into the air while raising a fist high before landing back on the ground "Thank you so much…uhh…What is your name?"

"Kirito. My name is Kirito." Kirito answered the other player's question "If you look above the green curser that's over my head, you'll notice the name of each player you interact with."

The other player listened to what Kirito said and looked above the curser that was over Kirito's head to see his very name. The other player smiled in amusement.

"Ah, I see. Thanks, I'll be sure to remember that." The other player said

"That's good to know…" Kirito replied as he then looked above the other player's green curser to see what his name is "…CloudStrife07?"

"Yeah, or just Cloud for short." Cloud answered

After being acquainted with each other, Kirito and Cloud headed off to the weapons shop. Kirito picked out a one-handed longsword that he could carry on his back while Cloud picked out the biggest greatsword they had, one that he could also carry on his back. They both headed over to the items shop, where they both already had enough Col to purchase 5 normal health potions at best. After getting the necessary items they both needed, Kirito got his newest objective.

The objective said: "Congratulations, you're ready to advance to the battlefield. Head outside of the town to start your combat training."

Once they made it outside far away from the town, they entered a field that was crawling with boars with glowing red eyes and red cursers over each of them. Kirito then got a step-by-step tutorial listed in front of him on how to fight enemies while Cloud suddenly drew his greatsword.

"Alright, I guess it's time to do this thing." Cloud said as he was about to rush towards the boars.

However, Cloud came to a stop as he felt Kirito's hand on his shoulder.

"Hold on, Cloud." Kirito said "You can't just go running into battle expecting to swing your sword a few times and get your first kill. That's not how the game works."

"What do you mean? How else am I supposed to fight them?" Cloud asked as he cocked his eyebrow

Kirito found himself, in a bad way, amazed at how clueless Cloud was. Kirito began to wonder something.

"Okay, Cloud, level with me. Have you been reading any of the objectives you've been getting since the beginning of the game?" Kirito asked

Cloud's face paled a little and was a bit hesitant to answer Kirito's question.

"Yeah, about that, I accidentally pressed the Skip button when I got my first objective." Cloud admitted as he rubbed the back of his head

"...Oh..." Kirito responded blankly

"Yeah, that's why I went around looking for someone who knew how to play, so I wouldn't have been stuck in the same area for hours without knowing what to do." Cloud continued feeling embarrassed "Sorry if I'm now a bother to you because of my mistake."

"Oh, no it's fine, Cloud. I don't mind helping out someone who's in need of some assistance. Although, I wonder why you didn't just ask any random play if you could just tag along with them and learn how to play the game with them. You didn't really specifically need a beta tester to help you." Kirito said

Cloud stood there with a face of dumbfounded realization.

"...Oh yeah, you're right." Cloud finally replied, "I guess I just didn't bother to take the time to think of that."

"Well, let me show you how to properly fight enemies before you do anything." Kirito said as he then walked closer to one of the enemy boars

Kirito then drew his own sword and took a stance with his left hand out in front of him, his sword arm nearly behind him.

"What you always want to remember is that the first attack is always the most important." Kirito said as his sword started to glow in a bright red colour "If you do your initial motion right and activate a sword skill at the right time, the system pretty much guarantees you'll always hit your target. Observe."

Kirito dashed forward towards the enemy boar and slashed downwards at it, landing a heavy strike. The boar's health meter went down about one-sixth. Kirito then ran back over to Cloud

"Alright, Cloud, go ahead and give it a shot. I'll even let you finish it off" Kirito said

"Oh, okay thanks." Cloud replied as he then took a stance with his right leg in front of him as he held his greatsword with both hands on his left side.

Cloud was about to attempt to do start up a sword skill like Kirito said he had to do, but he then wondered something.

"Wait, how am I suppose to start up a sword skill?" Cloud asked

"Just simply grip onto your sword as firmly as you can. That's how the system will recognize that you're attempting to do a sword skill." Kirito answered before continuing "Also, here's something else you should know. Right after you start your skill, wait for a few seconds. You'll then feel a gentle pulse in your hands. Once you feel that pulse, that's when you'll know your skill is ready for use and then drive it home."

"Ah, I see. Got it." Cloud said as he then moved his focus onto the boar.

As the boar came charging towards him, Cloud gripped his hands firmly onto the handle of his greatsword. He watches as his sword started to glow a bright blue light as he waited for that gentle pulse to kick in. After a few seconds, just like Kirito said, Cloud felt the pulse in his hands. Cloud pulled his sword behind his head as he then dashed over to the boar. Cloud pulled his sword forward and delivered a heavy slash attack onto the boar, causing its health to deplete 1 and a half sixth.

Cloud then thrusted his sword at the boar, taking another one and a half sixth of its health. Cloud wasted no time delivering the final blows against his enemy. He took a slash with his sword to the left and the last one to the right. He watched as the boar's health meter went all the way down to zero. The boar's body then began to glow in a bright colour of blue and it shattered into a lot of brightly coloured shards.

Cloud then saw a little notification appear right in front of him, telling him of the experience points the amount of col he got from killing his first enemy. Cloud's eyes grew wide and a bright smile formed on his face. He raised his sword high into the air with both arms and cheered out in joy at his first victorious battle. Kirito smiled at this and walked over to Cloud.

"Congratulations, Cloud, your first kill in SAO." Kirito said

Cloud then lowered his sword and looked at Kirito while still keeping that happy smile on his face.

"Thanks, Kirito. I did have you to teach me how to properly fight after all." Cloud said

"Hey, no problem." Kirito replied "So what do you think of SAO so far? Pretty addictive, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it is." Cloud answered as he then took a simple slash across the air with his greatsword "So, if I'm remembering correctly, there a bunch of other skills in SAO aside from different uses of weapons and fighting styles, right?"

"Yep. There's a huge amount of different skills to level up, like Blacksmithing, Cooking, Fishing, Farming, you pretty much name it and Sword Art Online is bound to have it...all except for magic though." Kirito answered

"An RPG without magic? That's an interesting choice for the game developers to make." Cloud said as he took another swing of his sword through the air

"So, you wanna continue levelling up?" Kirito asked

"Heck yeah. Let's go!" Cloud cheered as he and Kirito then went on to fight some more boars

For about the past thirty minutes, Kirito and Cloud have been running across the fields fighting and killing as many enemy boars that they could come across. During their level gathering, Kirito and Cloud decided to compete against each other to see who could get the most kills before one of them logged off for the day. Kirito was currently at thirty-five boars while Cloud was at thirty-four.

While they were looking for some more boars to kill, they both happened to find another player who was fighting a boar. The player was a man who looked about a decade older than the both of them, had long red hair with a red bandanna with yellow stripes, a white long-sleeved shirt, dark brown pants, and the same leather armour, gloves, and boots that Kirito and Cloud were wearing. He was also carrying a small katana as his weapon.

However, this player seemed to be having a really difficult time dealing with the enemy in front of him. Kirito and Cloud watched as the boar charged at the player and rammed its horny nose into the red-haired player's stomach. The red-haired player fell backwards holding onto his stomach like he was in pain. Kirito and Cloud then quickly ran over to the other player.

"Hey, you okay?" Cloud asked as they both approached the red-haired player

The red-haired player looked up at both of them while still holding onto his stomach. Kirito then sighed.

"You don't have to hold onto your stomach. It's a video game, you can't feel any real pain." Kirito said blandly

The red-haired player suddenly had a face of realization and slowly moved his hands away from his stomach.

"Oh yeah, you're right. Sorry, a habit of reflexes." The red-haired player said

The red-haired player sat up from the ground and got himself back up before dusting himself off.

"This stupid pig is really difficult to kill. He just won't stand still." The red-haired player complained

"Hey, I don't mean to sound rude, but how can you have a difficult time fighting a pig on the first floor?" Cloud criticized the red-haired player "I can understand if, like me, you accidentally skipped the tutorial, but if you haven't, you should be able to fight these things no problem."

"Well that's easy for you to say, but I've been trying to figure out how exactly to activate my sword skills for a while now and I just can't seem to figure out exactly what to do." The red-haired player continued to complain "Plus, even if I did know how to use them, I doubt these pigs would be any easier to beat. These things are like spawns from Hell."

"Is that so?" Cloud asked as he then looked over at the enemy boar, which only had like about five percent of its health left

Cloud then looked down at the ground, noticing a little pebble. He crouched down and picked it up off the ground. He then pulled his hand back behind his head, tightening his grip onto the pebble, waiting until he felt that familiar pulse in his hands. He then threw the pebble over at the boar, which landed right on the boars bottom. The remaining bits of the boar's health depleted and the boar glowed a bright blue light before shattering into many brightly coloured shards. Cloud then got another experience and col earnings notification for the boar he just killed.

Cloud then looked at the red-haired player with a smug grin on his face.

"My God. I've just stumbled across the most powerful weapon in the game..." Cloud taunted

"Stop." The red-haired player pleaded

"The Mythril Pebble of Pig Smiting." Cloud continued

"Please stop." The red-haired player begged

Cloud was about to continue on with his taunts, but was interrupted by Kirito putting his hand on his shoulder.

"Okay, Cloud, that's enough. You've already proven your point." Kirito said

Cloud let out a little laugh.

"Alright alright, I'll stop." Cloud said "I, admittedly, was about to go into a long and detailed story of the awesome origins of that legendary pebble."

"Well, that wouldn't exactly have been necessary anyway." Kirito argued

"Maybe not, but it would have been hilarious." Cloud argued back

Kirito then looked back at the red-haired player.

"So anyway, what's your name?" Kirito asked

"Oh, my name's Klein." Klein said

"Nice to meet you, Klein." Kirito asked as he extended his arm for a handshake "I'm Kirito, and the guy right next to me is Cloud."

"The pleasure is all mine." Klein said as he then shook Kirito's hand

"So, do you need some help with learning how to fight these things?" Cloud asked, "I promise I won't continue to taunt you while doing so."

Klein felt a little hesitant a few seconds, but he eventually nodded his head in agreement.

Once the three of them found another boar, Cloud then took the pleasure of showing Klein how to activate a sword skill and showing him how much easier it is to fight enemies while using them. Once Cloud told Klein everything that Kirito taught him, Klein took on the boar-like it was nothing. Klein then got a notification for experience points and col earned. He cheered at his victory.

"Alright! That was awesome!" Klein cheered as he then ran back over to Cloud "Thanks for the help, Cloud. Maybe you're not exactly the tool I originally thought you were."

Cloud cocked his eyebrow at Klein's comment.

"What do you mean by that?" Cloud asked with some offence in his voice

"With how you were taunting me when you easily killed that first boar that I was having a hard time with." Klein answered

"I only did that as a harmless joke. I wasn't really trying to be mean." Cloud retorted

"Well, that further debunks what I originally thought of you." Klein said as he then began to walk away from the two "Anyway, thanks again for the help. I'm gonna go continue levelling up on my own now. Later, guys!"

"Bye, Klein! Have fun!" Kirito said as he waved goodbye to Klein while Cloud did the same thing

They both watched as Klein ran off into the distance on his way to face some more enemies on his own, much more prepared this time.

"Alright, Cloud, you ready to continue our contest?" Kirito asked

"Oh, you bet I am. Bring it on." Cloud said before remembering something "Oh, by the way, we're at an even score now. That last boar I killed for Klein, that marks thirty-five for me."

"Not for long will we be tied." Kirito retorted

"I'm inclined to agree." Cloud agreed

Throughout the rest of the day, Kirito and Cloud have done nothing but kill boars and race to see who could get the most boars killed before one of them logged out first. But it eventually came down to it where they got tired of killing boars and waiting for one of them to log off, so they both agreed that they'd only kill as many boars until 17:00.

When it was finally that time, they both looked at the number of how many boars they killed on their menus. To Kirito's surprise, Cloud ended up being the winner with a score of two hundred and thirty-five to two hundred and thirty-seven. Cloud even managed to level up to Level Two.

Right now, the two were just sitting down on the ground in the fields, watching the sunset. For Cloud, he was admiring much more than just the beautiful sunset that was to behold.

"Man, every time I look around, move my body, and touch some of the things here, I honestly sometimes forget I'm not actually in another world. I'm inside of a Virtual Reality game that feels so real..." Cloud said in absolute bliss "This thing is like a dream come true. It makes me really happy I was born in this generation."

"Oh come on, it's not that big of a deal." Kirito said

"Oh look who's talking, Mister Beta Tester." Cloud retorted as he looked over at Kirito "Unlike you, I never got to experience SAO when it was open for beta testing. It may be normal for you now, but for me...for me, it's a real reality shifter."

"This is really your first time experiencing full-dive VR?" Kirito asked as he looked over at Cloud

"Yep, it sure is. I have some experiences with Virtual Reality games before, but nothing as advanced as this. I've only ever witnessed the visual levels of Virtual Reality with the PlayStation VR." Cloud answered

The very mention of the brand name PlayStation began to ring a bell in Kirito's head.

"Hey, Cloud, I've got a curious question for you." Kirito said

"Yeah?" Cloud replied

"It's your username. Is it a reference to a game that was made for one of the PlayStation consoles?" Kirito asked

Cloud smiled.

"Well, you could say that. But it's really a reference to the main character of Final Fantasy VII by Square Enix...or Square Soft as they were called back in the day. Actually, it really depends on which version of Final Fantasy VII you're talking about." Cloud answered

"Different versions?" Kirito asked before he suddenly remembered something "OH! That's right. Final Fantasy VII got a Remake that was released two years ago, right?"

"Yep, that's right." Cloud answered "It was one of me and my older brother's favourite games. It was truly the one game that really made me appreciate Square Enix as a video game company and how hard they work on making RPG games for everyone to enjoy playing."

"Oh, you have a brother?" Kirito asked

"Yeah, I do. An older brother at that." Cloud answered "I've got an older brother, an older sister, and a twin sister. We were all raised by our single mother for the past 5 years."

"That's really nice." Kirito said, "I've got a mom and a little sister myself."

"No father?" Cloud asked

"Oh, I've got one, but he spends most of his time doing business over on the other side of the world in America. So it's kinda hard to remember him." Kirito answered

"Oh, I see." Cloud said

"What about you, Cloud? Don't you have a father?" Kirito asked

Cloud's face went blank. Cloud looked away from Kirito, letting his head drop down without saying a single word. Kirito then realized he must have said something really personal.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Cloud. You don't have to answer if-" Kirito said before he was cut off by Cloud

"No, it's...it's fine." Cloud said as he once again fell silent for a while before continuing "...My father left 5 years ago for unforgivable reasons. That's why it's just me, my mother, and my siblings."

"Oh...I'm really sorry, Cloud." Kirito apologized

"It's fine." Cloud replied "I'm far better off without him anyway. I only need my mother, my sisters, and my brother."

"You must love your family very much, Cloud." Kirito said

Cloud smiled brightly again

"I do." Cloud admitted "I love them all very much, especially my brother. He's actually the reason as to why I like video games so much, he's even the reason as to why I'm playing this game right now in the first place."

"How so?" Kirito asked

"Well, to be perfectly honest, this isn't even my game." Cloud admitted "This copy of Sword Art Online, it's actually my brother's copy. My brother, just like you, was actually one of the one thousand people who got to beta test the game and get the game for free for helping contribute to the full creation of it. I remember when we'd be in our bedroom, I'd be waiting for him to come back to the real world and he'd tell me everything he experienced and what it was like being in the game. He'd tell me about how real it felt being in the game, how realistic everything looked, he was very into the beta test for SAO that he managed to make it up to Floor Twelve just before the beta testing ended."

"That's really awesome, Cloud." Kirito said in a really cheerful voice "Your brother sounds like an incredibly good gamer to make it that far in the beta test. I must say I'm kinda jealous of him, I wasn't even at to make it past Floor Ten during the beta test."

"Oh yeah, he's really something when it comes to games." Cloud said

"Hey, does he know that you're playing his game?" Kirito asked

"Yeah, he does." Cloud answered "He said to me that he had to go take care of something big with his friends at their videogame club. He said that He'd be gone until around 17:30-18:00, that I could use that time to play and experience Sword Art Online for myself if I wanted to. Sadly, this will be the only time I'll get to play SAO for a while. But my brother said that he has enough money saved up next year, he'll buy me my own NerveGear and copy of the game so I can play whenever I want to play."

"Your brother sounds like a really awesome guy. You must be very lucky to have a brother like him." Kirito complimented

"Am I ever? And he's always telling me about how many people say he's one of the friendliest people they've ever met." Cloud said

"Hopefully I'll get to meet him myself once he logs on. I'll be sure to tell him about how his little brother bested me at killing the most boars and how much fun you were actually to play with. I hope I'll get to go up to Floor Twelve with him and even further beyond." Kirito said with a hopeful glint in his eyes

"You sound like you're really into this game, Kirito." Cloud said

"Yeah, I really am." Kirito admitted "Ever since I started beta testing for the game, SAO was all I could think about, day and night. In this world, a single sword can take you wherever you want to go. And even though it's a virtual world, I truly feel more alive in here than I ever did in the real one."

Cloud sat there in admiration of Kirito's love for the world of Sword Art Online. He couldn't blame him though, SAO really was a world of wonders, a true delight to behold. Cloud then thought of something.

"Hey Kirito, what time is it?" Cloud asked

"Oh, hang on." Kirito said as he then began to pull up his clock "It's 17:25."

"Oh, well then I guess it's about time for me to be going now. My brother should be home anytime soo now." Cloud said as he then started to stand up from the ground

"Well, in that case, it was a lot of fun playing with you, Cloud." Kirito said as he himself stood up from the ground "I really hope I'll get to see you again sometime soon next year if your brother manages to get you your own NerveGear and copy of SAO."

"Thanks a lot, Kirito. And I'll be sure to tell him about my experience playing with you and how you helped me learn how to play the game after I accidentally skipped the tutorial." Cloud said as he then reached out his arm "Well, I guess this is goodbye for now."

"Yeah, I guess it is." Kirito confirmed as he took Cloud's hand and shook it. "Goodbye, Cloud."

"Goodbye, Kirito." Cloud said as he turned around and opened his menu

Kirito then turned around from looking at Cloud and began to walk away.

"What the heck?" Cloud's voice stopped Kirito in his tracks

"What's wrong?" Kirito asked as he looked back at Cloud

"The Log Out button...it's gone." Cloud said in a worried tone

"Are you sure? Did you press the settings button and look at the last button slot at the bottom?" Kirito asked

"Yes and yes." Cloud answered "I did all of that."

Kirito was now starting to feel a little worried himself.

"Alright, let me check myself." Kirito said as he opened up his menu

Kirito then pressed the settings button and looked at the very last button slot at the bottom. And much to his surprise, like Cloud said, the Log Out button was missing.

"You're right. It really is gone." Kirito said

"I don't like the feeling of this." Cloud admitted

"Don't worry. Let me just try to contact the game master and see if we can figure out what's going on." Kirito said as he pressed the Help button

A screen appeared with what looked like a phone dial for the game master. Kirito and Cloud waited for a good three and a half minutes but the game master hasn't even picked up.

"That's strange. Usually, the game master doesn't take this long to pick up a help call." Kirito said

"Hey Kirito, do you know if there's another way to log out of SAO?" Cloud asked

"I'm afraid not." Kirito answered regretfully "The only way to log out of SAO manually is through the Log Out button in the menu. So until we know exactly why the Log Out button is missing, the only way we can be logged out of the game is if someone removes the NerveGear from our heads."

"Well shoot. If I had known something like this would happen, I would have told my twin sister to remove the NerveGear from my head at 17:30." Cloud said

"What's even more strange is that the game developers should be aware of this. They should have noticed that there's an issue with the Log Out buttons for everyone, made an announcement about it, and shut down the server to log everyone out. But why haven't they don't that yet?" Kirito asked now feeling really concerned

"I don't know. I just don't want to be stuck in here for too long." Cloud replied

Suddenly, the Town of Beginning's giant bell started to ring. Kirito and Cloud looked towards the sound of the ringing bell. And then, for some reason, both Kirito and Cloud were feeling all tingly all around their bodies. Everything started to look very bright to both of them and then all they could see was nothing but pure white.

When the brightness died out, they both realized they were not in the fields anymore. They were both back at the starting point at the Town of Beginnings. They also noticed that many other players were arriving at town square, all looking just as confused as the both of them. In fact, it looked like just about all of the players that have logged onto SAO today were all there in town square.

"Someone forced a teleport." Kirito said concerned

"But why here?" Cloud asked as he looked around town square looking at all of the other players who were all looking at one another

Cloud then looked up at the sky and noticed something very peculiar.

"Hey Kirito, what is that?" Cloud asked as he pointed up at what he was seeing

Kirito looked up to what Cloud was pointing at and saw what looked like a big blinking read Warning sign. The sign stopped blinking and many more signs that said both Warning and System Announcement started to fill the air and cover the town square in a big dome.

Coming through the cracks of each of the signs, large amounts of what looked like blood started to seeth down from the cracks. The amounts of blood stopped falling halfway through the sky and all started forming together.

"First the Log Out button is missing, then we are teleported to the starting point of the game, and now the sky is bleeding. What else is there?" Cloud asked rhetorically

Once all of the large amounts of blood were all formed together, the big blob of blood now started to take the shape of something while big bolts of electricity started moving everywhere around it. When the blob of blood stopped taking its shape and the electricity died out, the blob then turned into what looked like a giant floating red and yellow cloak with white gloves for hands. The hood of the cloak was in a position like someone was wearing it, but the inside of the hood was completely pitch black.

A lot of the other players were asking questions like whoever that floating cloak was or why it doesn't have a face while others were feeling very afraid of what was going on. The floating cloak the moved it's arms up into a position like it was giving some warm reception.

"Attention players." A loud voice came from the giant floating cloak in the sky "I welcome you all...to my world."

"His world?" Kirito asked as he looked puzzled for a few seconds before widening his eyes "Wait, don't tell me that's-"

"My name is Akihiko Kayaba." The cloak said, officially now known as Kayaba "And as of this moment, I am in control of this world."

Both Kirito and Cloud gasped in surprise. The very man responsible for the creation of both the NerveGear and Sword Art Online was right their in their presence. What they were both feeling right now was a mixture of surrealism and concern. Some of the other players were talking amongst themselves about how Kayaba made this big of an entrance.

"I'm sure that most of you have already noticed an item missing from your main menus. The Log Out button." Kayaba announced as he then pulled up his own main menu to demonstrate what he was talking about "Let me assure you all, this is not a defect in the game. I repeat, this is not a defect. This is exactly how Sword Art Online was designed to be."

" W- What?" Cloud stuttered as he started to tremble

"None of you can log out of the game, and nobody on the outside world will be able to safely shut down nor remove the NerveGear from your head. If anyone attempts to do so, a transmitter inside of the NerveGear will discharge a microwave signal into your skull, destroying your brain and ending your life."

Kirito and Cloud, along with many of the other players, felt a powerful rush of both fear and nausea in their bodies.

"Despite my warnings, the friends and families of some of the players have already attempted to remove the NerveGear. A most unwise and unfortunate decision to say the least. As a result, the game now has two hundred and thirteen less players than when it began. They've been eliminated from both Aincrad and the real world." Kayaba announced as he then pulled up a bunch of moving monitors showing a bunch of media outlets and news articles. "As you can see, international media outlets have rounded up the coverage of everything, including the deaths. At this point, it has become safe to assume that removing the NerveGear from players heads is minimal at best."

Cloud looked at some of the media outlets and news articles talking about the deaths of the players, and even some footage of some of the friends and families of the dead players, crying in despair for the loss of their loved ones. Cloud was now feeling a new building feeling aside from his fear and nausea. Anger. He could feel a sense of anger building up in his stomach as he began to ball his hands into fists.

"It's also important to note that there is no longer any way to respawn within the game if you die. If your health meter drops to zero, your avatar will be deleted from the system forever...and the NerveGear will simultaneously destroy your brain." Kayaba announced

Kirito gasped as his eyes went even wider. He then envisioned what would happen to himself if his health were to drop all the way to zero, now knowing that whenever that happened, it was completely game over for him both in the game and the end of his own life in the real world as well.

"There is now only one way for all players to escape from the game. In order to get out of Sword Art Online, at least one of you must beat the game." Kayaba announced as he then showed a holographic projection of Castle Aincrad "Right now, you are all gathered on Floor One, the lowest level of Castle Aincrad. If you can get through the labyrinth and defeat the Floor One boss, players may advance to the next floor. The player that makes it to Floor One Hundred and defeats the final boss will be crowned the winner of Sword Art Online...and all players will be free to exit the game."

Kirito and Cloud were now filled with a little bit of hope now that they know there's a chance that they can make it out of SAO alive. Some of the other players, however, were feeling concerned and worried since the majority of the beta testers never made it any higher than Floor Ten.

"Last, but not least, I've placed a little present in the item storage of every player." Kayaba announced "Please have a look."

Kirito, Cloud, and the rest of the players started to look inside of the item storage of their menus to see anything out of the ordinary. What they found in their storage was an item labelled "Mirror". Each of the players pressed on the Mirror button and a small rectangular handheld mirror appeared in their hands.

Suddenly, everyone's bodies started to glow really brightly and many short screams of fear were being heard throughout town square. The glow from everyone's bodies made the entire town square glow a bright white light for a split second, and then the light finally died down. But once the light died down, things got really weird for everyone. Everyone now didn't look like their avatars anymore. They all looked totally different.

"Kirito?" Kirito heard Cloud's voice call over to him from his other side

Kirito looked over to his left to look at Cloud. To Kirito's surprise, Cloud now had the appearance of a young teenager with spiky silver hair which could be described as in-between medium length and long, along with purple eyes. Kirito then looked back down at his own mirror and realized that he now looks exactly like how he does in the real world, with his medium length hair and his baby face.

All the other players were talking amongst each other, asking who the other players were while one pair of players were figuring that one was actually a guy playing a girl and the other was not some handsome seventeen-year-old. But they eventually came to realize that they were both completely okay with it. Like the wise man once said: "Love knows no gender".

"Kirito, what happened to us?" Cloud asked "We both look exactly how we do in the real world...I think everyone now looks how they do in the real world. But how did this happen?"

Kirito thought about it for a few seconds before realizing something.

"The scan." Kirito said

"The what?" Cloud asked

"There's a high-density signal device inside of the NerveGear rig. It can see what the faces of the player looks like." Kirito explained

"Oh, I see." Cloud said now starting to understand better "But then how does it also know our height and body types?"

"Remember when you first put the NerveGear? It had you do this calibration thing when it asked you to touch your body all over. That's where the NerveGear scanned and got our physical data." Kirito explained further

Kirito, Cloud, and the rest of the players all looked back at Kayaba who was still there floating in the sky.

"I believe that all of you are now wondering why. Why would Akihiko Kayaba, developer of the NerveGear software and Sword Art Online do something like this?" Kayaba asked rhetorically before continuing "Ultimately, my goal was a simple one. The reason why I created Sword Art Online to be this way was to control the fate of the world of my very design. And as you all can see, I have achieved my goal."

Both Kirito and Cloud clenched this fists tightly. For Kirito, he felt his anger build at the fact that Kayaba was holding everyone in SAO as his own prisoner, while Cloud once again felt his anger build at the memories of the miserable cries of the friends and families of those who lost their loved ones because of SAO.

"This officially marks the ending of the tutorial and the official beginning of Sword Art Online." Kayaba said as his body then began to fade away into a red mist "Players, I wish you the best of luck."

As Kayaba's body turned completely into red mist, the mist moved upwards, through the cracks of the Warning and System Announcement signs. Once the mist was completely out of sight, the dome made out of the signs disappeared in an instant.

Everyone in town square remained silent from the utter disbelief or horror they were all feeling after receiving the news that Akihiko Kayaba has bestowed on them all. And then, all panic broke loose. Players were all screaming and shoving against each other demanding to be let out of the game because they want to live or because they have things they have to do in the real world.

Kirito looked over at Cloud and took hold of his shoulder, getting his attention.

"Cloud, come on." Kirito said as Kirito then ran for the exit of town square while Cloud followed him

As Kirito and Cloud ran away from the crowd of scared and screaming players, they ran all the way to a dark alleyway in the town. Kirito stopped running and looked back at Cloud.

"Listen carefully. I'm heading out right now for the next village, and I want you to come with me." Kirito said as he looked down at the ground "It's like Kayaba said, we'll die in real life if we die in the game. So the only way we're going to survive through this whole thing is by making ourselves as strong as possible. In an MMORPG, the money you can earn, the experience you gain, once the game first starts up, there's only so much of that stuff to go around. The hunting fields around the town of beginnings will be hunted clean soon now that just about everyone will be trying to get stronger. So if we head to the next village now, we'll have an easier time collecting cash and points.

"...Yeah, you're right." Cloud said "But we also need to be super careful with making ourselves stronger and making sure we don't get too carried away or do anything reckless. One slip up and it could be it for the both of us."

"Don't worry, I know all the paths and places we should avoid. Even though I'm only Level One, I can get us there easily." Kirito said as he looked back up at Cloud "So what do you say, Cloud, you coming with me?"

Cloud remained silent for a few seconds, but his face grew very serious.

"Of course I am." Cloud answered firmly "Knowing that Kayaba is keeping everyone here his prisoner and seeing all those friends and families crying at the deaths of their loved ones on the media outlets has only makes me want to get stronger, clear each floor, reach the top, and kick the final boss's behind. I've already had my father leave a scar in my heart for leaving me behind, so I'm not going to just die and leave my family behind. I'm going to help beat this game, and return to my family no matter what."

Kirito could see true determination in Cloud's eyes. He could see how willing Cloud was to fight through this death game in order to make it back home to those that matter the most to him. That was something Kirito found truly admiring about Cloud. Kirito smiled confidently.

"Okay, let's go." Kirito said as he and Cloud then continued to run through the streets of the town

They both made it back outside into the fields outside of the town, following down the road that leads to the next town. As they ran down the road, they then noticed a couple of enemy wolves appear in the middle of the road and run towards them. Kirito and Cloud both drew their swords and prepared their own sword skills.

They both waited until they felt that pulse in their hands. Kirito performed a forward thrust at one of the wolves, instantly killing it. The other wolf leaped over Kirito, about to attack Cloud, but Cloud performed a downward slash at the wolf, also instantly killing it.

They both of them sheathed their swords and continued running forward. The thoughts about the people they have to return home to, the people who have already suffered because of this death game, inside and out of it, and the people who need someone strong enough to save them before they have to end up suffering themselves fueled Kirito and Cloud's motivation to keep moving forward, keep getting stronger, and beat the game.

They both knew that they got what it took, that they could do it, that this world couldn't beat them.

They will both survive...together.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: First Boss Fight

(December 2nd, 2022)

It has already been nearly a full month since the beginning of the death known as Sword Art Online. Ever since then, many of the players have been trying to work very hard on making themselves get stronger in order to clear the game, while others decided it would be better to try to live peacefully without running into danger.

During this monthly time period, two thousand out of the ten thousand players that were stuck in SAO have come to an abrupt and tragic end. Some of the players died from bad luck while others died from utter recklessness.

And during this monthly time period, both Kirito and Cloud have both been working very hard on getting stronger while also being careful with themselves and not doing anything stupid. During their first quest together, Kirito was able to get a new sword called the Anneal Blade which increased his strength stats plus five. Kirito said that his new sword should do him well up until Floor Four.

While Kirito and Cloud were on the quest in order to get Kirito's new sword, they met a player by the name of Coper, who was also a beta tester. Kirito and Cloud thought that Coper was just willing to help them both get Kirito's sword, but along the way, they came to figure out that Coper was actually going to kill them both and complete the quest on his own to get the sword for himself.

Coper tried to lure Kirito and Cloud into a trap full of monstrous plants that they were not yet strong enough to face. However, luckily, Kirito was able to figure out Coper's plan and turn the tables, causing Coper to be killed by the monstrous plants instead of him and Cloud.

It was from that point on that it became clear to both Kirito and Cloud that they have to be careful with who they put their trust into while playing this death game, because not everyone is willing to cooperate with each other until the end. Some are willing to stab you in the back if it means getting stronger and staying alive.

Kirito and Cloud have also done some levelling up for the past monthly period. Kirito was now at Level Ten while Cloud was at Level Eleven. Kirito and Cloud also made sure to upgrade their armour stats from leather armour to simple steel chest plates. They also swapped from the simple brown fingerless gloves to black fingerless gloves with small steel plates on them and swapped out their brown boots with black ones.

Kirito and Cloud also decided to share some information on each other's lives back in the real world. Cloud learned that Kirito's mother, father, and little sister were actually his aunt, uncle, and cousin. Kirito told Cloud about how he was raised by his aunt and uncle along with his cousin since they were babies. He even said how he came from a family that was traditioned for any and all family members to learn Kendo, so both Kirito and his cousin were made to start learning and training at the local dojo at the age of eight.

However, at the age of ten, when Kirito got his first computer, he discovered the truth about his parentage and that his real parents died in a car accident from an old erased record file he found on the internet. This caused Kirito to go into a huge state of depression and confusion to the point where he didn't want to go to Kendo classes anymore. This got him a heavy beating from his grandfather. But that was also when his cousin stood up for Kirito and promised their grandfather that she would train extra hard for the both of them. Since then, Kirito's cousin held onto her word and worked harder than she ever did before. She even made it to the nationals Kendo tournament.

Kirito sadly admitted to Cloud that he felt like he caused a huge burden on his cousin for letting his depression and confusion get in the way of him continuing to practice Kendo and making her train even harder, that he began to distance himself from her because he believed that she didn't think too well of him anymore. Kirito even told Cloud that his cousin's name was Suguha.

Cloud told Kirito that he highly doubted that Suguha would hate Kirito if she was still continuing to work really hard for both of them. He told Kirito that he thinks that no matter what happened in the past, his Cousin most likely still loves him and that she probably even loves doing Kendo. This really helped feel Kirito feel a bit better after admitting to Cloud what happened.

It was now Kirito's turn to listen to Cloud's life story. Cloud told Kirito about how when he was only nine years old when his father committed murder against an innocent woman, causing Haru to live the past five years with his mother, his brother, and his two sisters. Cloud told Kirito the names of his siblings. There was Jumpei, who was Cloud's older brother, his older sister, Serena, and his twin sister, Emera.

Cloud decided to first tell Kirito a bit of his older sister, Serena. He told Kirito that Serena was an incredibly intelligent young woman with incredible study skills and habits. She really enjoys reading books and studying up on Japanese history. He said that she aims to use everything she learns to become a professor in Japanese history. Cloud even mentioned that Serena was currently in a romantic relationship with a Japanese Air Force soldier.

Cloud then started to talk about Jumpei. He said that ever since his very early childhood, videogames have always been a really big part of Jumpei's life. Jumpei always found more enjoyment in playing videogames and playing with other people than he ever did with trying to find a career that would be suitable for him. He said that Jumpei just wanted a simple life where he could have a good job to make a good living and just simply be free to play his video games.

Cloud then went on to talk about Emera, saying how she had a real taste in playing the piano. He said that Emera had been learning how to play the piano ever since they were both ten years old. Cloud admitted that the piano was his favourite instrument next to the guitar, and he said that the sound of the piano being played has always sounded like something that could only be described as "Heavenly". Cloud said Emera aimed to become a worldwide known piano player.

And Cloud went on to talk a little bit about himself. Cloud told Kirito that he always had a taste for the performing arts. Ever since he had his first Drama class in when he was ten, Cloud had grown to really love putting on performances for everyone to see and enjoy. Cloud said that earlier this year, after his last performance in his Drama class, Cloud officially decided that he wanted to become a performer in the future.

Cloud even mentioned that he had been currently taking Karate classes for two whole years now and that his class was currently learning the basics of fighting with a sword. This made Cloud become really interested in the use of a blade which brought him to ask his sensei about all the different types of sword fighting styles. His sensei taught him a lot about the basics of different styles of Asian sword fighting and a lot about the different types of swords from all around Asia.

The fact that Cloud knew so much about the basics of different Asian sword fighting styles and swords really intrigued Kirito.

Throughout this whole monthly period, while players were working on getting stronger, not a single player was able to locate the Floor One Boss's room within the Labyrinth. Even though Kirito used to be a beta tester, he had a really hard time locating the boss's hideout. But that was until just a couple of days ago, where a group of players were making their way through the remains of the Labyrinth and have finally found the giant door that leads straight to the boss. And today, there was a gathering being held for those who were interested in discussing and figuring out how they were going to defeat the boss and advance to Floor Two.

Kirito and Cloud both agreed to each other that they should attend this gathering since it meant a lot to the both of them to clear the game and return home to those they care about more than anything.

When they both arrived at the gathering, it was what looked like a little theatre stage used for live performances, which was actually much to Cloud's pleasure. There were rows of stone seats surrounding the front of the stage. Kirito and Cloud sat down on the back row of the stone seats on the first row on the right side.

Much to Cloud's surprise, about only thirty people were attending this gathering.

"Strange, I was honestly picturing there to be about a couple of hundred players here." Cloud said as he looked around at all of the people taking their seats

"Perhaps there are only very few players who are actually brave enough to try to face the boss." Kirito suggested as he looked down at the stage

After a few minutes, a player stepped out onto the stage. The player had long bright blue hair blue eyes, a long blue shirt with thin yellow stripes, white pants, and dark brown boots. He also had a set of bronze armour complete with a bronze chest plate, bronze shoulder guards, bronze bracers, and bronze shin guards. He also had a one-handed sword attached to his hip and a steel shield with a sword symbol on it on his back.

The blue-haired player clapped his hands together loudly to get the attention of everyone who was already there.

"Okay, everybody, let's go ahead and get this meeting started!" The blue-haired player called out with a warm welcoming smile on his face "First of all, my name is Diavel and I'd like to thank everyone here who was able to attend. It's very good to see you all."

Diavel paused for a few seconds before his smile turned into a more serious look.

"As I'm sure you are all aware, a couple of days ago, me and my party have finally located the boss room in the Labyrinth." Diavel announced in a serious tone "Now I understand that some of you may be feeling discouraged and doubtful because two thousand of us have already died in just nearly a full month, but that's the main reason as to why I'm standing in front of all of you today. I want to tell you all that because of your hard work and the fact that you all have survived this long, that it is possible to beat this game. That's why _we_ are all here today, to discuss and strategize a plan for defeating the boss and advancing to the next floor. It is our duty as the most capable players here. Do you all agree?"

The small crowd stayed silent for a while, but as they all talked amongst themselves, they all grew to really approve and appreciate Diavel's optimism and gave a round of applause and a few whistles for him. Diavel smiled again.

"Wonderful! Glad to know you're all with me on this." Diavel said "Now then, let's get down to business. I've already thought long and hard about we will deal with fighting the boss. First off, we'll team up into parties of six. A single typical party doesn't stand a chance against a floor boss, that's why we need a raid group made up of multiple parties. Everyone, find some players to group up with."

While everyone was forming up their parties, Kirito and Cloud have already formed a party with each other. However, unfortunately for them, everyone else seemed to have already been partied up together, leaving just the two of them.

Kirito looked around to see if anyone hadn't already been partied up with anyone else yet. He looked over to his right and saw just one player sitting quite far away from him, Cloud, and everyone else. The player was covered in a simple red cloak with a hood covering their face. The player was also noticeably wearing a pair of tight white leather pants and red knee-length boots, while also carrying a rapier sword, showing that the player specialized in fencing.

Kirito tapped on Cloud's shoulder, getting his attention. Kirito then motioned himself over to the hooded player with Cloud following behind him.

"So, I guess you got left out too, huh?" Kirito asked the hooded player

"…Not even." The hooded player responded in a feminine voice, revealing the player to be a girl "I wasn't left out. It's just that everyone here seems like they're already friends."

"Oh, so you're a solo player." Kirito said before continuing "You wanna be part of me and Cloud's party?"

The hooded girl slightly motioned her head at Kirito's direction, as if she was wondering why Kirito would ask her that kind of question.

"You heard what Diavel said." Cloud spoke up "Nobody here can beat the boss on their own. We need as many parties as we can get if we want to win. Even though we'd be just a party of three, we should still be enough for at least defence. Plus, it'll be just for this boss fight."

The hooded girl remained silent and motionless for a few seconds, but she then nodded her head in agreement. Kirito then sent a request to the girl to join his and Cloud's party, and she pressed the accept button. In Kirito and Cloud's party lists, a brand-new name appeared at the very bottom. The hooded girl's name appeared to be Asuna.

"Asuna…" Kirito and Cloud both whispered under their breath

"Alright, looks like everyone's teamed up!" Diavel announced, regaining the attention of all the players "Right, now then- "

"Hold up a second!" A voice called from the top of the stone seats

Everyone looked up behind them to see where the voice was coming from. Standing on top of the stone seats was a male player with orange cactus-like hair, brown eyes, and a sienna goatee. The player was wearing a metal armour chest plate which in the style of scales, a bright grey long-sleeved shirt underneath, bright brown pants, and dark brown leopard-like printed boots. He also carried a big one-handed sword on his back, much like Kirito.

The orange-haired player leapt from stone seat to stone seat, making his way down to the center of the stage. When he made it there, he turned to all of the players looking at him.

"My name's Kibaou, you all got that?" The player said addressing himself as Kibaou "Before we take on the boss, there's something that I strongly believe needs to be addressed. We all know about the two thousand players who have died so far, yeah?"

Kibaou then pointed his right index finger at the other players with a look of serious disdain in his eyes.

"Well, you lowlife losers need to apologize to them and everyone here right now!" Kibaou demanded, causing everyone to talk amongst themselves in confusion

"Kibaou…" Diavel spoke up "I think I know who you're referring to. You're talking about the former beta testers, right?"

"Of course, I mean them." Kibaou confirmed Diavel's question "The very moment this stupid ass death game started, the beta testers just up and vanished. They completely abandoned all of us beginners. They just decided to snag all the good hunting spots and grab all of the easy quests too. This whole time they were the only ones getting stronger and leaving us to remain weak and unable to fight for ourselves. This whole time they've ignored us like we don't mean anything. And I know for a fact that some of them are here right now. Show yourselves, you beta losers! You better apologize to all of us and give us all the money and items you have! You cannot ever expect the party to trust anyone you when you don't trust us! You don't deserve our trust!"

Cloud was now starting to feel a serious disdain for Kibaou right now. For this guy to have the nerve to call out the beta testers like they are nothing more than a bunch of selfish thieves just made Cloud mad, knowing that Kirito was a beta tester and he was more than willing to help out Cloud when he needed it. Not to mention, he also felt like Kibaou was badmouthing his older brother. Cloud was now glaring daggers at Kibaou while gritting his teeth tightly and clenching his fists.

"Who does this punk think he is?" Cloud said quietly and roughly as he started to stand up "I should go down there and punch some sense into him."

"Cloud, no." Kirito said as he quickly grabbed hold of Cloud's wrist, stopping him from completely standing up

Cloud slowly sat back down while glaring madly at Kibaou.

"Can I say something?" a voice came from the bottom of the stone seats

Cloud, Kirito, and everyone else looked towards the voice to see someone standing up from their seat and walking up to Kibaou. This person was a tall and muscular black man with a bald head, brown eyes, and a thick goatee. He also had two silver earrings on his left ear. He was wearing a simple white and dark brown jumpsuit, leather armour over his chest, dark brown fingerless gloves and bracers, and bright brown boots with white fur on the tops. He was also carrying a big battle axe on his back.

"Who the hell are you?" Kibaou rudely asked the tall man

"I am known by many names. Some call me Mountain Slayer, Thunder Lion, or the Chocolate Axe. But you, you may call me…" The tall man said as he then paused for a few seconds to build up some suspense at to what his name was "…Agil."

Kibaou just simply stood there in silence without making any response.

"Anyway, I want to make sure I'm understanding what you're saying. You say that the former beta testers are responsible for the deaths of all those beginners because they didn't help them, and you want them to apologize and give up all their earnings. Did I leave anything out?" Agil asked

"No, you didn't." Kibaou confirmed

Agil then reached into a pocket pouch on his left hip and pulled out a little brown book.

"A group of people still hands these out for free. It's a guidebook. You got one, didn't you?" Agil asked

"Yeah, I got one." Kibaou answered "What about it?"

"You know who that group of people was that was handing these out? The former beta testers." Agil said causing some gasps and more chatter among the rest of the players

Kibaou gritted his teeth and hissed while Cloud was smirking down on him. Cloud was really glad that someone like Agil was standing up for the beta testers. Agil turned around to look at the rest of the players.

"listen up!" Agil announced "Everyone had equal access to this information, and even so, a lot of players still died. Now I didn't come here to be pointing fingers at anyone, I'm here because I want to learn from those players deaths. I'm here because I want to be able to figure out how we're going to properly work together to defeat the boss, move to the next floor, and continue pressing on to clear this game."

Kirito and Cloud both grew a new admiration towards Agil. They both really appreciated how smart Agil was since he used the deaths of the two thousand players as a lesson for what to do and what not to do in the future when trying to clear the game, and how he wasn't just using their deaths as an excuse to shame anybody.

Kibaou, now with nothing left to say and with no way of continuing his argument, moved over to one of the lower seats and sat down. Agil did the same thing and returned to his own seat.

"Okay, are we all good? Can we get back to the meeting now?" Diavel asked

Everyone remained silent, confirming that Diavel was now free to continue with the plan. Diavel said as he then pulled out his own copy of the guidebook

"For info on the boss, it's all in here. The latest of the guidebook that Agil was telling us about." Diavel said as he opened up his guidebook "According to the book, the boss's name is Illfang The Kobold Lord. It also says that during the fight, he will be surrounded by his minions: The Ruin Kobold Sentinels. Illfang will be carrying both an axe and a buckler. He has a total of four health meters. Once he's down to his last health meter, we will swap out his axe and buckler with a long curved-like sword called a Talwar. He can also change the patterns of his attacks."

Many of the other players talked amongst themselves as Diavel then closed up his guidebook.

"That's it for the briefing." Diavel announced "As for the distribution of loot, money will be divided equally among everyone. The party that defeats the boss gets the experience points, and whoever gets a bonus item gets to keep it. Are there any objections?"

Diavel waited for anyone in the crowd to saying something, but everyone just simply shook their heads letting him know they had nothing to say.

"Very well then." Diavel continued "Everyone is to meet up with me at the Labyrinth tomorrow at 10:00. On our way to the boss room, we will be discussing the names of each party and their jobs during the boss fight. And with that, this meeting is over. Get some good night's sleep, everyone, tomorrow's fight will decide our fate."

As many of the other players were either leaving the theatre area or going down to talk some more with Diavel, Kirito watched as Asuna got up and just simply walked away. Cloud watched as Kibaou walked over to Diavel and seemingly apologized for making an ass of himself earlier, to which Diavel seemed quite easy to forgive. Cloud, however, didn't quite feel the need to forgive him so easily.

As nighttime came along, most of the meeting attendants were still hanging out with Diavel, most likely to get early advice and strategies of how to fight against Illfang or probably just to simply hang out and have fun before the big fight tomorrow.

Kirito and Cloud walked through the streets of the town after getting some freshly made honey buns for dinner. While they walked, Cloud thought of something that started to really concern him.

"Hey, Kirito…" Cloud said "…Do you think we'll actually win tomorrow?"

"Hmm?" Kirito said as he motioned his head over to Cloud "Where's that coming from?"

"We've been super careful as to make sure we're getting as strong as we possibly can and making sure we don't do anything reckless to get ourselves killed for nearly a full month already, but that was just because we fought a bunch of normal enemies. What if the boss is too much for us to handle?" Cloud asked

Kirito placed a hand on Cloud's shoulder and gave him a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry about it." Kirito said confidently "I'm Level Ten and you're Level Eleven. I think we're both strong enough to do a good job against the boss tomorrow. Besides, it's not like we're going in alone. We're going in with about 30 other players. We'll definitely win tomorrow."

"I hope so…" Cloud said

As Kirito and Cloud continued walking down the road, they noticed someone sitting on a set of stone steps. The figure that they were both looking at was the hooded player, Asuna. As they walked up to her, they noticed that she herself was also enjoying a freshly made honey bun.

"So, you like honey buns too, huh?" Kirito asked causing Asuna to slightly turn her head towards him and Cloud "They're really good if I do say so myself. Do you mind if we sit down with you?"

Asuna remained silent, but she scooted over to the left to give Kirito and Cloud some room to sit. Once they were seated, Kirito and Cloud opened up their menus and took out their own honey buns.

"You really think these taste good?" Asuna asked quietly

"Yeah, they are awesome." Cloud answered, "Ever since we arrived at this town, we both ended up eating at least one per day."

"We've even got a trick to make them taste better." Kirito added as he then opened his menu back up to get something else

Once Kirito chose the item he was looking for, he held out his hand and a little bright brown jar with a white stripe around the middle fell into it. Kirito placed the jar in between him and Asuna.

"Try it with some of that." Kirito suggested

Asuna placed the tip of her index fixer on the top of the jar and a glowing sphere surrounded her finger. She then moved her finger over to the honey bun and moved her finger downwards over the honey bun. When the light around her finger died down, it revealed what looked like thick yellow melted cream.

"…Cream?" Asuna asked rhetorically

Asuna then watched as both Kirito and Cloud put the cream onto their own honeybuns just before the jar shattered in tiny pieces and disappeared. She watched as they both took a bite of their food, they both swooned in delight making Asuna believe that it must be as good as they say it is.

Asuna looked down at her own honey bun before taking her first real bite of it. Kirito and Cloud watched her, waiting to see what she thought about it. For a while, she did nothing but sit there after taking her first bite. But then, much to their surprise, Asuna started stuffing her face with it like there was no tomorrow. Kirito and Cloud smiled in amusement.

"Cloud got that cream from doing the Heifer Strikes Back quest. That quest is located in the village before you come to this one." Kirito said, "If you wanna try and get the cream for yourself, I'm sure Cloud would like to tell you how."

Asuna shook her head.

"No thank you." Asuna said, "I appreciate the offer, but I didn't come all the way to this town just to eat anything tasty."

"Well then why are you here?" Cloud asked

"So I remain to be exactly who I am." Asuna explained "I refuse to let myself become a coward and lock myself in an inn and slowly rot away til my last dying breath. I wanna remain the way I am. Even if I am defeated by a monster and die, I will not lose myself to this game."

Kirito was now starting to grow a good form of respect for Asuna right now. He really liked how she was wasn't so afraid of the dangers that laid ahead of her and she was willing to face them no matter what. Although, Cloud was still a bit confused by what Asuna meant and felt the need to get a clarification.

"If you don't mind me asking, who exactly are you?" Cloud asked

"…I'm just a girl who wants nothing more than to clear this game and get back home or die trying." Asuna answered

"Oh, I see." Cloud said now getting a better picture

Kirito took a small bite of his honey bun before speaking up.

"Yeah, well, I don't want to have a party member dying on me. So at least make sure to make through tomorrow." Kirito said as Asuna nodded in agreement

"What about you guys? Why did you come all the way to this town?" Asuna asked

"…Well, our reasons really aren't that different from yours." Kirito answered before continuing "I'm doing everything I can to make sure that me and Cloud can get out of this game because I refuse to let us remain as Kayaba's prisoners. There's no way I'm going to let him control my life."

"As for me, I have to get as strong as I can possibly get and be as smart as I can possibly be in order to get out of this game and return to my family." Cloud said before continuing "I refuse to allow myself to just die and break the hearts of my mother, my brother, and my sisters. I'm going to return home to the people I love, no matter what."

Just like Kirito, Asuna began to grow a big admiration towards Cloud's motives. He wasn't fighting to clear the game to prove himself not Kayaba's prisoner or to hold onto a big part of himself, he was fighting because he had a group of loved ones in the real world to go back to. Asuna ended up giving a small smile.

"That's an admirable motive." Asuna complimented "I hope you do return home to your family."

"I hope we can all return to our families." Cloud said as he looked up at the nighttime sky

The next day had arrived and everyone that attended the boss fight meeting all met up with Diavel at the Labyrinth. As all of the party members made their way through the many floors of the Labyrinth, Diavel started giving squad names to each party in the raid group. Those who were in Squads A and C were responsible for offensive attacks against the boss, while those who were in Squad B were responsible for defence. Those who were in Squads D, E, and F were responsible for taking care of the Ruin Kobold Sentinels. Since Kirito, Cloud, and Asuna were only a party of three, they were declared as Squad F.

While they all continued making their way to the boss room, Kirito, Cloud, and Asuna all worked on making a strategy with how to deal with the Sentinels. Kirito suggested that he and Asuna perform a simple tactic where one player uses a sword skill to defect the enemy's attack, knocking them off balance, while the other player switches in for the attack on the enemy. All Cloud would have to worry about is keeping as many other Sentinels off of Kirito and Asuna and anybody in Squads A, B, and C as possible.

After long flights of stair climbing, they all finally reached their destination. The boss room. The doors to the boss room were about twelve feet tall and nine feet wide, and right next to each door was a giant cauldron with a big flame over it. Diavel halted just in front of the doors, making everyone behind him stop in place too. Diavel turned around to look at all of his raid members with a confident smile.

"Listen up, everyone. Before we press on, I have just one thing to say." Diavel said as he drew his sword and raised it high in the air before continuing "No matter what happens to any of us today, let's achieve a glorious victory!"

Most of everyone returned Diavel's confident smile with their own. Diavel turned back around to face the doors, placed his left hand in the dead center of the two doors and pushed them open.

The inside of the room was really dark as far as everyone could see, but it also looked like it was very wide on the inside too. But what could really be seen from within the room at the very end were a pair of two glowing red specs. Diavel and the others slowly made their way inside of the boss room, but once they were all about five meters inside of the room, the entire room started to light up with what looked like an endless series of real colourful printings on the walls, the ceiling, and the floor. Much to everyone's surprise, the boss room was much bigger than they originally thought it was. The room was about twenty meters wide and a hundred meters deep.

But what was even more surprising to everyone was that the two glowing red specs at the end of the room were not specs. They were actually two glowing bloodthirsty eyes from the big bad himself. Illfang The Kobold Lord looked like a creature that was rather difficult to put into words. The best way that anyone could describe him was that he looked like a combination of giant red-furred muscular troll with what looked like the head of a vicious dog, rabbit ears, and a salamander tail. It wore a big purple-coloured steel helmet that covered most of its face except its eyes and mouth, a green leather neck guard covering its neck, green leather bracers, and green leather knee pads with shin guards. It also wore a set of blue, purple, and white clothes that resembled much of an esteemed tribesman, with a doubled diamond marking on its stomach.

Illfang leapt its way from the very end of the room over to the middle of it. It held up its axe and its buckler up high as it released a loud and powerful roar and its name appeared right above the red curser above his head. Four health meters appeared right next to it as its minions, The Ruin Kobold Sentinels, all teleported right in front of it as their names and health meters appeared. The Sentinels looked like smaller versions of Illfang, except they were all completely covered in metal armour from their head to their toes, and their weapons were big two-handed maces. Illfang and its minions began running towards Diavel and the rest of the raid group.

"Everyone! Commence attack!" Diavel cried out as he held his sword out in front of him

Everyone rushed head-on into battel with Squads A, B, and C on the front lines, Diavel in the middle, and Squads D, E, and F in the back. Squad B quickly fought their way past the Sentinels and made their way in front of Illfang. Diavel, along with Squads A and C also did their part and quickly fought past the Sentinels, leaving Squads D, E, and F to deal with them. Illfang swung its axe down at the defence squad, but they all used their own sword skills to deflect Illfang's attack.

"Squads A and C, switch in!" Diavel commanded

Squad B moved back out of range while Squads A and C all went in for the offence. Each one of them performed their own sword skills against Illfang and the combined power of their attacks managed to bring down one-eighth of its first health meter. Once Illfang regained its composer, it was back on the offensive.

"Here he comes!" Diavel cried "Squad B, block!"

Squad B listened to Diavel's command and moved in for the defence while Squads A and C fell back.

"Squad C, keep guarding and prepare to switch. Everyone else, when you fall back, regroup and flank him!" Diavel ordered as he then turned towards the other squads "Squads D, E, and F, keep those minions off us!"

"Understood." Kirito responded as he, Cloud, and Asuna got into position "Alright, guys, just like we planned. Cloud, remember, you just focus on keeping the Sentinels off of us and everyone else while we switch off after each attack and go in for the kill."

"You got it." Cloud replied

One of the Sentinels came running up to them. Kirito drew his sword and ran up to the Sentinel. The Sentinel swung it's mace down at Kirito, but Kirito activated one of his sword skills to deflect his enemy's attack and knock it off balance.

"Switch!" Kirito cried out to Asuna

"I'm on it." Asuna responded as she quickly drew her rapier and rushed passed Kirito

Kirito and Cloud watched in amazement at how quickly Asuna could move. They watched as she so gracefully thrusted her weapon into the weak spot of the Sentinel, the neck, and instantly killed it.

"Wow..." Kirito said nearly speechless "...I thought she was just a rookie, but her technique is flawless. She moves so fast and I can't even see the tip of her sword."

Cloud found himself very impressed with Asuna's fighting style and smirked.

"Right on, girl." Cloud said

Cloud then noticed another Sentinel about to attack Asuna. He quickly jumped into action and ran over to Asuna with his greatsword drawn. As the Sentinel swung its mace at Asuna, Cloud swung his greatsword upwards, knocking the enemy's weapon out of the way. Asuna recognized this and once again used her rapier to attack the Sentinel's neck and instantly kill it.

"Thanks for that, Cloud." Asuna said smiling

"No need to thank me, just doing my part." Cloud responded

For the past five minutes, everything was going according to plan. Squads A and C were all successfully and safely attacking the boss while Squad B were all blocking whenever Illfang would through another attack at them. And Kirito, Cloud, Asuna, and the other backup squads were all successful at taking care of the Sentinels and keeping all of the squads on the front lines safe. And now, it was all down to the last phase. With Illfang now on its very last health meter, it threw its axe and buckler away.

"Looks like the guidebook was right." Kibaou said with a smirk

Suddenly, Diavel ran up to the front lines in front of everyone.

"Everyone stand back. Allow me to finish him off." Diavel said

Kirito and Cloud looked over at Diavel in surprise at his actions.

"What's he doing? Why is he fighting the boss all alone now?" Cloud asked

"I don't know. I thought the plan was for everyone in the group to surround the boss when it goes into it's next phase." Kirito responded

Everyone watched as Diavel got into a fighting stance and started to activate his sword skill, preparing to fight Illfang. But both Kirito and Cloud then noticed something unexpectedly horrifying. The new weapon that Illfang pulled out was not a Talwar as described in the guidebook, it was a No-Dachi.

"Oh no!" Kirito quickly said under his breath "This is completely completely different from the beta test."

Cloud knew how much more dangerous a No-Dachi was in comparison to a Talwar because of what his sensei had taught him about the two swords. Cloud knew that a Talwar was an Indian sword many used by cavalrymen in battle while a No-Dachi was a Japanese sword used for fighting on horseback. In short, a No-Dachi is longer than a Talwar so it has more reach and does more damage.

"Diavel! Get out of there!" Cloud cried over to Diavel, but Diavel didn't seem to hear him

Illfang suddenly leapt off of the ground, onto one of the pillars inside of the room. Itts then leapt right off the pillar and officially began bouncing all around Diavel's space.

"Hurry!" Cloud cried out again "Get out of his attack range, fast!"

Unfortunately, it was much too late for Diavel to get away from the boss. Illfang leapt down from the ceiling and slashed it's No-Dachi downwards, heavily striking Diavel in the chest. Illfang wasted no time delivering another attack on Diavel. Illfang slashed upwards to the left, making Diavel go flying like a baseball. Everyone in the raid group watched in horror as their leader was so easily taken down by the boss.

"Diavel!" Kibaou cried out in horror

Diavel landed back on the floor, not to far from where Kirito, Cloud, and Asuna were. Kirito and Cloud ran over to Diavel's side and kneeled down next to him. Kirito held up Diavel's head and watched as his health meter was now in the read and was slowly depleting.

"Why the hell did you try to fight him alone? Why didn't you fall back when his weapon clearly wasn't a Talwar?" Kirito asked as Cloud opened up his menu and pulled out a health potion

Cloud tried to give the potion to Diavel, but Diavel pushed Kirito's hand away and looked up at Kirito.

"...You noticed it too, huh?..." Diavel asked quietly as his health continued to drop "...You noticed it wasn't the same as it was in the beta test...You were a beta tester too, right?...You should know why I went in alone..."

Kirito's eyes widened as he silently gasped.

"You were after the rare item, the one that's obtained from the last attack bonus." Kirito said before continuing "You were also a beta tester."

Diavel smiled weakly at Kirito.

"...As a beta tester, I knew about the rare item and what its capabilities were...I wanted to get as many rare items as I possibly could...so I could stronger, and...so that nobody else would have to risk their lives to get out of this game..." Diavel said silently as tears started to dwell up in his eyes "...But I've failed...I can't go on to protect anyone anymore..."

As tears now rolled down Diavel's cheeks, he looked at Kirito with pleading eyes.

"...Please..." Diavel said weakly "...You must defeat the boss...for everyone here."

At that very last second, the very last of Diavel's health had depleted. Diavel's body glowed a bright blue and shattered into many floating pieces. Kirito and Cloud sat there in devastation at the loss of their leader/comrade. It was equally devastating for both of them because they both truly admired how much stronger Diavel wanted to get just to prevent anyone else from needing to fight in order to get out of the game.

Ever since the death game started, Kirito could only think about how he and Cloud were going to make it out alive. Nothing else really mattered to him. But now he felt a huge responsibility to fulfil the dying wish of a player who was such a wonderful leader and thought about the lives of everyone in the game and wanted to do anything to keep them safe...And that's exactly what Kirito was going to do. He was going to what Diavel asked of him and defeat the boss.

Kirito stood up from the ground and turned around to look at where the boss was. Many of the other raid members were already fighting back against the boss while doing their best to keep themselves alive. Illfang's remaining health meter was now one-fifth empty. Kirito tightly clenched his left fist.

"Cloud..." Kirito started

"Yeah?" Cloud responded looking up at Kirito

Kirito looked back at Cloud with a whole lot of determination in his eyes

"...Let's finish him." Kirito finished

Cloud, seeing the determination in Cloud's eyes and hearing it in his voice, was now filled with the same determination. Cloud put the health potion back in his storage, stood up and walked up right next to Kirito.

"For Diavel." Cloud said as he then got into a stance

Suddenly, Kirito and Cloud noticed Asuna now standing on the other side of Kirito with her weapon in hand.

"I'll fight with you guys too." Asuna said as she took her own stance

Kirito nodded at Asuna's regulation and then got into a stance of his own.

"So, how do we fight him?" Asuna asked

"Your orders, leader, call it." Cloud said

"Okay..." Kirito said before continuing "We'll attack him just like we did with the minions."

Kirito looked over at Asuna.

"I'll first counter the boss's attack, you switch in and go for the attack."

"You've got it." Asuna replied

"And Cloud," Kirito said now looking at Cloud "You and I will switch off for defence each time she attacks."

"Understood." Cloud responded

The three of them rushed over to the boss as it just slashed back some of the other players. Illfang's focus then switched onto Kirito and it started to activate one of its sword skills. Kirito wasted no time to started up his own sword skill as he got closer to Illfang. Once Kirito was in Illfang's attack range, it slashed its weapon down while Kirito slashed his sword upwards, against the giant No-Dachi, forcing Illfang to lose balance.

"Switch!" Kirito cried out to Asuna

Asuna quickly rushed over to the boss with a sword skill ready. However, Illfang quickly regained its composer and slashed it's sword down at her.

"ASUNA!" Both Kirito and Cloud yelled out loudly

Fortunately, the sword did not hit her. Asuna managed to duck beneath the sword just in time for it to only managed to destroy her cloak, officially revealing what she looked like under that hood. Asuna was a very pretty girl with long caramel brown hair that had a couple of small braids being tied together around the middle of the back of her head and a pair of hazel eyes. Apart from her obvious white leather pants and red boots, she also wore a red leather tunic over a thin white long-sleeved shirt as well as a lightweight copper breastplate, and a short red leather skirt.

Asuna immediately picked herself back up along with her sword and she drove her sword into Illfang's stomach, taking away one-tenth of its remaining health. And now it was Cloud's turn. Cloud rushed in as Illfang attempted to deliver another strike. Cloud activated a sword skill and swung his greatsword to the left, knocking Illfang's weapon to the side, giving Asuna the chance to rush back in and thrust her sword into the boss's stomach once again, taking another one-tenth of its remaining health.

Illfang went in for another slash, this time to it's right, but Kirito immediately stepped in and blocked its attack. Kirito shoved the boss's sword over to his own right, but Illfang immediately moved its arm around and prepared for an upper slash, catching Kirito off guard. As the slash hit Kirito, it sent him flying into both Cloud and Asuna, knocking them all to the ground. Cloud got himself back up and looked at Kirito's health bar, which has reduced to fifty percent. The boss waisted no time to prepare for another attack, this time a downward slash. As Kirito, Cloud, and Asuna were all about to be hit by Illfang's attack, a flash of green appeared in front of them.

It was Agil using his axe to deflect Illfang's attack and push it back about ten feet. All of the other players started charging towards the boss as Agil looked down at the three of them.

"We can hold this bastard off until you're health's back up." Agil said talking to Kirito

"Thanks, Agil." Kirito thanked with a smile

Cloud immediately pulled back out the health potion from his menu and handed it to Kirito. Kirito took the potion, put the top of the crystalized bottle in his mouth, and drank the potion. Kirito, Cloud and Asuna all watched as Kirito's health went all the way back to a hundred percent, and they all stood back up. They all looked towards the direction of the other players holding off the boss until Illfang overpowered them and swayed them all back with the No-Dachi. Illfang leaped high into the air and prepared to deliver a powerful downwards slash on Agil and the players.

Cloud reacted immediately and held his greatsword behind his back from over his head while preparing a sword skill. Once Cloud felt that familiar pulse, Cloud did one of the craziest things he ever thought of doing. He threw his greatsword at the boss with all of his might and watched it go flying towards the boss and deliver a strong solid strike, taking away one and a half tenth of Illfang's remaining health.

As both the boss and Cloud's sword fell to the ground, Kirito got himself back up and went after Illfang with Cloud and Asuna falling behind him. Kirito wasted no time to prepare a sword skill and deliver a powerful slash to the side on the boss, sending sliding across the floor to the near end of the other side of the room. The damage from Kirito's attack took one and one-third tenth of Illfang's remaining health. Cloud and Asuna caught up to Kirito and Cloud picked his sword back up from the ground.

"Cloud, Asuna, help me beat this sucker. Just one more attack from all of us." Kirito said

"Roger." Asuna replied

"Will do." Cloud responded

They all rushed over to the boss while preparing their final sword skills with Cloud leading the way this time. The boss picked itself back up and it prepared another sword skill. Illfang performed a downward slash at Cloud, but Cloud quickly dodged Illfang's attack and delivered a strong downward slash onto the boss's stomach, taking one and a half tenth more of its health away. Asuna was the next to perform her sword skill. Hers was what could only be described as a series of lightning fast thrusts of her rapier onto the boss's stomach, taking one and one-third tenth of the health. And finally it was Kirito's turn. As Kirito screamed at the top of his lungs, he delivered a powerful upwards slash starting from Illfang's stomach and ending all the way to the very top of its' head, and the impact of Kirito's last attack lifted the boss right off of the ground.

The cut in Illfang's body from Kirito's attack started to glow a bright shining blue and the bright blue light started to its body. Once the body was completely covered, Illfang The Kobold Lord's entire body shattered into many glowing floating pieces.

There was a silence that sat among all of the remaining players in the room. But the silence was broken with a series of loud screams and cheers from everyone as a giant floating sign that said "CONGRATULATIONS" appeared in the thin air. Kirito was down on one knee, taking some deep breaths and sheathing his sword after having defeated the boss with Cloud and Asuna's help, along with the assistance of all the other players. Kirito then noticed a notification appear right in front of him. The notification read: "Congratulations! You got the last attacking bonus!" Kirito then pressed the okay button on the notification and got another notification showing what the item was. The item was a piece of clothing called the Coat of Midnight.

The light in the room finally started to dim down to the point where the room was not as bright as it was before. Kirito was soon joined by Cloud, Asuna, and Agil with all of their weapons sheathed.

"You got the item. Way to go." Cloud said

"Nice job out there." Asuna complimented

"That was fine swordsmanship. Congratulations" Agil said as he looked at all three of them "Today's victory is all thanks to you three."

Most of the players started clapping and cheering on Kirito, Cloud, and Asuna. Both Cloud and Asuna felt flattered by everyone's praise, but Kirito didn't feel like this was well deserved, not for him at least. Despite the fact that he was now dead, Kirito really felt like today's victory mostly belongs to Diavel.

"STOP CHEERING!" A yell came from within the crowd

Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked towards where the voice came from. Kirito, Cloud, Asuna, and Agil watched as Kibaou made his way to the front of the crowd and glared hatefully at Kirito.

"Why did you do it?!" Kibaou asked angrily "Why did you let Diavel die?!"

Saying that really struck a nerve for Cloud. Cloud glared over at Kibaou.

"What are you talking about?" Cloud asked in a demanding manner "He did not let Diavel die."

"LIAR!" Kibaou yelled at Cloud as he then glared back at Kirito "Admit it! You knew what technique the boss was gonna use! You could have warned us about it, then Diavel would have stood a chance! HE WOULDN'T HAVE DIED YOU SELFISH BASTARD!"

Cloud was now once again feeling that building anger he felt towards Kibaou the other day when he was badmouthing the beta testers. Cloud gritted his teeth together and clenched his fists tightly while glaring angrily at Kibaou.

"I know how he knew!" One of the other players shouted "He use to be a beta tester! Think about it, he knew the bosses attack patterns! He knew how to fight it, but he didn't bother telling us!

"Of course, I should have known." Kibaou said as he started walking towards Kirito "You beta testers are all the same! You want nothing but all the god damn glory for yourself! You're all so self-centered that you don't care if anyone else's lives other than your own are in danger! YOU DON'T DESERVE TO BE ALIVE YOU PIECE OF SHIT!"

That was the last nerve that Cloud had. Cloud wasted no time stepping in between Kirito and Kibaou and getting up in Kibaous face. Kibaou froze in place when he saw the fuming anger in Cloud's eyes.

"Take one more step towards him or badmouth him one more time, and I _will_ break your nose." Cloud threatened in a cold voice

"G- GET OUT OF MY WAY!" Kibaou yelled as he threw a punch at Cloud's face

Cloud reacted quickly and blocked Kibaou's punch by using his left hand to knock Kibaou's fist of to the left. He then quickly wrapped up Kibaou's right arm with his left arm, balled up his right fist, and drove it square center into Kibaou's face. As Cloud unwrapped his arm around Kibaou's Kibaou fell down onto the floor while holding onto his nose. Cloud then looked over at all the other players.

"Yeah, he was a beta tester!" Cloud announced to everyone "But guess what...So was Diavel!"

Cloud's words caused some serious chatter among the entire crowd while Kibaou looked up at him with a glare.

"What did you say?!" Kibaou screamed while still holding onto his face

"You heard me, punk." Cloud retored at Kibaou "Diavel was also a beta tester."

Cloud looked back up at everyone.

"Diavel told every one of you to stand back and let him finish the fight because he wanted to get the rare item drop by doing the last attack bonus!" Cloud announced to everyone "But the reason he wanted to get it was not because he wanted all the glory for himself or because he didn't care for the lives of other players! In fact, it's the exact opposite! Diavel wanted to get the rare item so that he could keep on getting stroger to the point where he could be strong enough to protect everyone! He wanted to become stronger so nobody else would have to put their lives on the line as he tries to help clear the game! If a beta tester like Diavel is capable of wanting to get rare items for himself in order to ensure the safety and protection of everyone, then perhaps you should all try believing that all the beta testers want something similar! It's like Agil showed us all yesterday, some of the former beta testers are trying to help out the other players by handing out guidebooks and constantly updating the said guidebooks with knowledge on enemies along with tips and strategies on how to fight them! Some of the beta testers may have different ways of helping out us other players, but they all want the same thing! They all want to help keep as many people as far away from death's door as possible! So how about instead of acting like Kibaou and being an absolute dick, we all try to be more appreciative that some of the beta testers are doing whatever they can to try to help us all survive this game?!"

The crowd all began to chatter more amongst themselves. Kirito looked at Cloud with a very happy smile on his face. It truly warmed his heart how Cloud was defending Kirito and all of the beta testers, even though he was sort of doing it in a crude way. Kibaou then thought of something that Cloud said.

"You said _some_ of the beta testers..." Kibaou said looking up at Cloud, no longer holding his face "...Then that must mean that not all of them are as good and wholesome as you claim them to be."

Cloud glared back down at Kibaou while Kibaou returned that glare ad he got back up on his feet.

"Admit it. You know that there are some other beta testers out there who aren't so kind to others, right?!" Kibaou demanded

Cloud was about to speak up, but he then suddenly remembered his and Kirito's run-in with Coper, how Coper betrayed both of them in order to get Kirito's new sword.

"I bet there _are_ plenty of beta testers out there who just don't give a damn about other people and will more than willingly stab them in the back to get what they want." Kibaou said causing more chatting amongst the crowd

Cloud was now starting to get nervous. His hands were now feeling sweaty and he felt at a loss of words. Kibaou now had Cloud in a tight corner, and Kirito could see how uncomfortable Cloud was now starting to feel. Kibaou could now see the discomfort in Cloud's eyes.

"Ah, so it's true." Kibaou said before turning to face the crowd "All of you, don't bother listening to this guys garbage! He's just a pathetic loser who will play good puppy for his little beta tester friend! And so what if the beta testers are making all those stupid little guidebooks?! None of those will mean a damn thing if the beta testers are continuing to take all the good quests and clearing out all the hunting fields! Diavel was the only acceptional beta tester because everything he did was to keep us safe! He was the only one wanting to protect us while all the other beta testers are being selfish and taking all of the good items and and keeping us weak!"

Kirito was now starting to feel really worried about what the public image of the beta testers would turn out to be. He thought Cloud's speech to everyone about how the beta testers are trying to help everyone would follow through, but now Kibaou had him in a position where he couldn't talk anymore. Kirito knew he had to do something in order to save the public image of the beta testers.

And then, he got an idea...a really insane idea.

Kirito started to laugh like a maniac as he stood back up from the ground and looked at everyone.

"So, you guys honestly think I'm just another simple beta tester?" Kirito asked everyone "It's not cool to put me in the same league as those noobs."

Kirito's words took everyone in the room by surprise, especially Cloud.

"...Kirito?" Cloud whispered to himself

"Truth be told, most of the one thousand people who scored a slot in SAO's beta test were all just a bunch of rookies. They were all so green that they didn't even know how to level up properly. Hell, even all you guys are much better than they were. But me, I'm nothing those losers." Kirito said in a cold tone with a cocky smile "During the beta test, I made it all the way to Floor Thirty-Four. I've easily outclassed all of the other testers by in knowledge of how to play and good skill. It was my knowledge and skills that got me so far beyond what the other beta testers were able to achieve. That's a fact. I even knew about the boss because I've fought and defeated way much more powerful enemies with way more sword skills on the higher floors. I know a lot of other things too, more than you could possibly imagine, more than any info-broker, and I don't feel like sharing any of my knowledge with you or any of the beta testers, because that is just an utter waste of my valuable time."

"...W- What the hell?" Kibaou said nearly speechless "...If...If that's true, then you're worse than a beta tester! YOU'RE A GOD DAMN CHEATER! THAT'S WHAT YOU ARE!"

Cloud, Asuna and Agil watched as all of the other players started throwing hate and insults at Kirito

"He's a beta tester and a cheater! He's a Beater!" cried one of the players from within the crowd

"A Beater?" Kirito asked "Hmm, that's an interesting word. Alright, you all can call me a Beater. Just don't ever confuse me as a simple beta tester anymore."

Kirito then opened up his menu and opened up his armour slots. He selected the Coat of Midnight and a big black coat appeared on Kirito's body. Kirito smirked at all of the other players before heading off the the doors on the other side of the room that lead straight up to Floor Two. Cloud, while very confused as to what Kirito just did, followed Kirito to the doors. They both reached the spiral stairs and started to climb them.

"Hey, wait!" They both heard Asuna's voice from behind them

They both turned around to see Asuna right there in front of the stairs. She had a real curious look on her face.

"When we were fighting the boss, you guys called me by my name." Asuna said

"Oh, did we mispronounce it or something?" Kirito asked

"No, it's just...How did you guys know it? I never told you guys my name." Asuna said

"You didn't have to." Cloud said "If you look above a player's curser, you'll see the name of each of the players you meet and interact with."

Asuna listened to what Cloud said and looked above his curser.

"CloudStrife07?" asked Asuna

"Yeah, or just Cloud for short." Cloud answered

Asuna then looked over Kirito's curser to look at name.

"Ki-ri-to...Kirito? Your name is Kirito?" Asuna asked

"Yeah, that is my name." Kirito answered

Asuna stood there for a few seconds before she started to giggle to herself in amusement.

"I'm so dumb." Asuna said while smiling "You're names were there the whole time and I never knew."

Kirito looked at Asuna with a serious yet gentle look.

"You can become powerful in this game on your own, but if the day comes when you're asked to join a guild, don't turn it down...there's only so much that a solo player can do." Kirito said before turning back around to continue walking up the stairs

"Well...hopefully, we'll see you again in the future." Cloud said to Asuna

"Oh, uh, yeah sure." Asuna said as she waved Cloud goodbye before returning to the rest of the party

Cloud then followed Kirito up the rest of the stairs. As Kirito and Cloud reached the doors, Cloud pulled Kirito in a huddle.

"Hey Kirito, would you mind telling me what that was back there?" Cloud asked in a whisper

"What do you mean?" Kirito responded also in a whisper

"That whole "Beater" thing. What was that?" Cloud asked more specifically

"Oh...that was my cover to save the public image of all the beta testers so that nobody would ever lose their trust in them. If saving the face of the beta testers for this game means acting like someone who looks down on beta testers for being noobs and not even bothering to help anyone because it would be inconvenient to me, I'm willing to do it." Kirito answered

Cloud's eyes widened. Kirito was bluffing throughout that whole speech in order to let the beta testers keep a good public image. Cloud didn't know whether or not to be admired by Kirito's actions or to criticize him for being willing to take on all of that hatred. Cloud then stopped huddling over Kirito. Kirito then opened up his menu and pulled up his party list. He pressed the Dissolve button and officially left the party that he, Cloud, and Asuna were all a part of. Cloud decided to do the same thing and leave the party since the boss fight was officially over now.

Kirito and Cloud looked up ahead, opened up the doors, and walked right through. They now officially made it past the first floor out of the one hundred floors of Aincrad, and while it was a difficult task getting to this point, they both knew it was only going to get more challenging from here on out. But they were both ready to embrace whatever may come their way.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: The Moonlit Black Cats

(April 8th, 2023)

It has now been five whole months since Sword Art Online became known to all of its players and the whole outside world as a literal death game, and a whole four months since Kirito and Cloud cleared the first floor with Asuna's help by defeating the boss. Since then Kirito and Cloud have been continuing to go on quests and go out hunting for monsters in order to get new weapons and skills and get much stronger. They even went on a few quests with Asuna from time to time.

Kirito and Cloud have also encountered another beta tester by the name of Argo. Argo was a female player with short yet curly bright blonde hair and golden eyes with red whisker-like paint markings on her cheeks. Argo wore mostly light leather armour underneath a large bright brown cloak. Argo wasn't much of a fighter. Instead, she took on the role of an Information Broker. She runs her own newspaper called Weekly Argo to spread information across all of Aincrad about the latest events that happen throughout the game. She even charges some players for some real juicy information on special quests and rare items. She's pretty much become Kirito and Cloud's best source of any kind of needed information.

Ever since the Floor One boss room was found and cleared, it has now become a lot easier for players to go out and start looking for the boss rooms. Those who would volunteer and were strong enough to fight alongside some of the other most powerful players in the game to fight against the bosses and clear the floors were officially dubbed as the Assault Team. Kirito, Cloud, and Asuna were some of the most notable members of the Assault Team due to their participation and how much they all contributed to helping defeat the bosses and clear the floors.

The Assault Team have all now officially twenty six out of the one hundred floors in Castle Aincrad. Just about everyone who was trapped in SAO, whether they were fighting on the front lines or taking shelter and safety in the inns on the lower floors, were all now starting to see a bright light ahead of them now that they were one fourth complete with the game. They were now starting to truly believe that clearing SAO truly is possible, just like Diavel said before the raid on the first floor boss, and with the rate they were going, the game would most likely be cleared in no time.

Speaking of Asuna, she officially decided to take Kirito's advice and join a guild. After the boss raid on Floor Twenty Six, Asuna was approached by a man by the name of Heathcliff, the commander of SAO's newest guild called the Knights of the Blood Oath. They had only just made their official debut at the boss raid, but Heathcliff and his followers have all demonstrated an outstanding showcase of great strength, intelligent battle strategy, and teamwork. It was also because of the help of the guild, that the entire raid was able to defeat the boss without any casualties. Asuna truly admired what the Knights of the Blood Oath had to offer and she just couldn't say no. After the boss raid, the news of the new guild spread like a wildfire. Many of the games players were starting to suggest that the Knights of the Blood Oath could eventually top the Holy Dragon Alliance, the guild that was currently listed as the number one guild in the game.

Kirito and Cloud have also gotten much stronger since after the Floor One boss fight. Kirito was now at Level Forty Five while Cloud was at Level Forty Six. Kirito has also noticed how much better Cloud has gotten at being able to fight off mobs by himself. He's come to notice how much Cloud has grown from a total novice the first day they met to someone who could practically play like a pro. It eventually came to the point where Kirito had asked Cloud a question that Cloud never thought Kirito would ever ask. Kirito had asked if Cloud thought he was strong enough and smart enough to play the game on his own.

Cloud thought long and hard about Kirito's question. Surely, he was strong enough since he was Level Forty Six, but the reason why he got that strong and made it this far was because of Kirito's help. But he also thought about how much more often he was using the tactics and strategies that Kirito taught him while fighting off enemies, even being sure to use a teleport crystal whenever he needed to get himself out of danger that he couldn't handle alone. From everything that Cloud thought about, he said to Kirito that he believed he was able to fight by himself.

And then Cloud heard Kirito ask the question that he was afraid of hearing since Kirito asked if he was strong enough to fight by himself. Kirito had asked if Cloud would be alright if they both went their separate ways. Cloud wasn't sure of what to say because, on one hand, he was sure he'd be fine without Kirito standing next to him twenty four/seven, but things just wouldn't feel the same without Kirito by his side. The past five months have made Cloud grow very use to having Kirito always at his side throughout their journey to complete the game.

Kirito then reassured Cloud that they would still see each other from time to time because they would undoubtedly still see each other during boss raids in the future. There were also chances that they would run into each other when they're both relaxing and have spare time. Kirito even told Cloud that if he ever needed any kind of help with anything, or even just wanted to meet up with him for a friendly talk, he's just a simple message away. This made Cloud feel a bit more comfortable with the situation, leading him to agree to Kirito's proposal. It has now only been a couple of days since the two went their separate ways.

Right now, it was late in the afternoon and Kirito was down on Floor Eleven killing some easy enemies in the Labyrinth to just simply pick up a few items instead of just blowing his col on items at the shopping districts, as well as get a few experience points. As Kirito got about just about all the items he needed, he suddenly heard a few screams come from within the Labyrinth. It sounded like a male's voice. Kirito rushed towards the stairs of the Labyrinth, making his way towards the source of the scream.

Once Kirito arrived on the second level of the Labyrinth, he found a group of five players who were all under attack by what looked like a group of three bat-like men. The bat-like men looked like that of a giant purple coloured, yellow-glowing eyed bat with a humanoid body except for the head. The group of five players were that of four boys and one girl. The tall boy with the medium length hair was being carried backwards by the two shorter boys that were wearing hats, while the tall boy with the short hair and the girl were standing in place, most likely in fear. All of their health meters were only about one fourth full. One of the bat-like men flew over and reached its claw covered hand out towards the five players, going in for an attack.

As the five players coward and screamed in fear, Kirito reacted quickly and rushed over to their defence. He drew his sword from his back and used it to cut off the bat-like man's hand. He then activated a sword skill and performed an attack where he attacks his enemy in for different corners, trapping his enemy in a diamond-like attack. After the enemy took the attack, the bat-like man's body started glowing bright blue and shattered into many floating pieces. Kirito quickly turned around to face the five players.

"Get out of here! Hurry!" Kirito cried out to the players

The five players all nodded and started rushing towards the stairs as quickly as possible. Once they were moving down the stairs and were out of sight, Kirito turned back to face the other two bat-like men. One of them flew over to Kirito with its mouth wide open, showing off many rows of long razor-sharp teeth as if it was about to bite Kirito. Luckily, Kirito had already fought these creatures before so he knew that striking them while their mouths were open causes bonus damage. However, Kirito decided to quickly duck right under the bat-like man's mouth and shove his sword right through the creature's chest. Because how strong Kirito already is, the single strike from his sword instantly killed the enemy. Kirito then quickly dashed over to the final bat-like man before it could even react and performed an attack where he attacked his enemy in the fashion of making a big X on his enemy's chest, and the final bat-like man instantly died.

Kirito sheathed his sword and slowly started making his way out of the Labyrinth. By the time he got out, he found the five players all waiting patiently outside. The tall boy with the short hair noticed Kirito walking out of the Labyrinth and quickly ran over to him. As the tall boy got closer, Kirito was finally able to put in the details of what he looked like. His hair was a brownish colour with a hint of red in it and his eyes were matching the same colour as his hair. He wore a dark red tunic with white outlines underneath a metal chest plate, metal shoulder guards, and metal bracers. He also wore black fingerless gloves, dark brown pants and dark brown boots with red stripes at the top. He was carrying with him a six-foot steel bo staff.

"Hey man," the tall short-haired player started "thanks a whole bunch for coming to our rescue back there."

"Oh, it's no problem." Kirito said

"No, honestly. If you haven't shown up when you did, we'd all most likely be screwed." The tall player said

"Like I said, it's no problem." Kirito repeated "I'm always glad to help whenever I can."

The tall player suddenly put his free arm around Kirito's shoulders.

"Say, why don't you let us treat you to dinner tonight as a Thank You gift?" The tall player asked

"Oh, no that won't be necessary." Kirito said

"Oh come on, please. It's the very least we can do for you after you helped us." The tall player insisted

Kirito could see that this guy really wanted to repay him. He wasn't wrong for wanting to do something like this though, it's no small kindness to jump in and save five players from being killed by three bat-like men. It would only make sense that they'd want to show Kirito their gratitude in some form or another. Kirito let out a silent sigh.

"Alright, I'll dine with you guys." Kirito said

The tall short-haired player unwrapped his arm around Kirito's shoulders and cheered out loudly while throwing his fist into the air. He then brought his fist back down and held out his hand for Kirito to shake.

"By the way, my name's Keita." The tall player said officially addressing himself as Keita

"Alright, my name's Kirito." Kirito replied as he took Keita's hand and gave it a good shake

Keita then walked Kirito over to the other four players and introduced Kirito to them. Keita first introduced Kirito to Tetsuo, the tall boy with the medium length hair. Tetsuo's hair colour was that of a bit of brighter brown hair than Keita's. Tetsuo's brown hair seemed to have a hint of yellow in it. Kirito couldn't tell what Tetsuo's eye colour was because Tetsuo, for some weird reason, always had his eyes closed. Tetsuo wore a light purple tunic with the outlines having a darker shade of purple, black pants and black boots. He also wore the same kind of armour that Keita was wearing, as well as some black gloves where only the thumbs were fingerless. Tetsuo's weapon was a small steel mace and he also carried a steel medieval-styled shield.

The next person that Keita introduced Kirito to was Sasamaru, one of the shorter guys with hats in the group. Sasamaru had long curly normal coloured brown hair and a set of green eyes. The hat that he wore on his head was that of a blue cap. He wore a green tunic with brighter green outlines underneath the same set of armour that Keita and Tetsuo had, except he only had one shoulder guard on his left shoulder. He also wore bright brown gloves, dark green pants, and dark brown boots. Sasamaru's weapon was that of a six-foot spear.

Keita then introduced Kirito to Ducker, the only guy left in the group. Ducker had fairly normal coloured blonde hair that was just about as long as Sasamaru's, only not as curly, and a pair of bright blue eyes. The kind of hat that Ducker was wearing was a dark gray beanie. Ducker wore a yellow tunic under the same kind of chest plate that the rest of his fellow male players were wearing and the same metal bracers. He also wore a yellow hoodless cloak that completely covered up his neck and shoulder. Kirito couldn't tell if Ducker was wearing any shoulder guards, but judging by how relaxed his shoulders looked even with the cloak on, Kirito assumed that Ducker wasn't wearing any. Ducker was also wearing black fingerless gloves, dark brown pants and dark brown boots. Ducker's weapon was a knife, a really big knife.

And the last one in the group, but most certainly not the least, for Kirito to meet was the only girl in the group, Sachi. Sachi had short dark blue hair and blue eyes. The back of her hair was cut up to about the middle of her neck while the hair that remained in front of her ears came down to her shoulders. She also had a really cute set of bangs. Kirito also noticed that she had a tiny little mole right under the corner of her right eye. Sachi wore a bright blue tunic, a blue skirt that came one third down her thighs, a pair of white gloves that came up past her elbows, and knee-length black boots. Her armor was completely different from what the others were wearing. She was only wearing a blue steel chest plate, no shoulder guards or bracers. Sachi, much like Sasamaru, was also wielding a spear.

After Keita finished introducing Kirito to everyone, they all headed out for the inn in the town of Taft. While they were all walking, Keita told Kirito that he, Tetsuo, Sasamaru, Ducker, and Sachi were a small guild who called themself the Moonlit Black Cats. By the time they all got to the inn, Keita and his guild all ordered their own food and drinks while they all pitched in their own little bits of money to pay for Kirito's food. After a couple of minutes of waiting, everyone's drinks were delivered to their table while their food was still being prepared. Suddenly, Keita and the rest of his guild stood up from their seats with their drinks in their hands.

"Here's to us, the Moonlit Black Cats!" Ducker announced as he held his glass high in the air "Cheers, everyone!"

"Cheers!' They all cheered as they clanged their glasses together while Kirito just sat and watched

"And now for another." Ducker said as he then looked over at Kirito "To the very guy who saved our butts today! To Kirito!"

"To Kirito!" Everyone else cheered as they all raised their glasses to Kirito

"Oh! um...cheers, guys." Kirito said awkwardly as he slowly raised his own glass before setting it back down on the table

"Really, thank you so much." Sachi said with her hands together, close to her chest "I cannot tell you how scared I was, and it made me so relieved and happy when you came to save us that I...I..."

Sachi's reminiscence of her and her guild's near-death experience started to bring tears to her eyes. Kirito tensed up as he noticed this.

"Hey, hey, hey..." Kirito started "It's okay, don't worry about it. I'm just glad I was able to save you guys when I could."

Sachi separated her hands and wipes the tears from her eyes. She looked back at Kirito with a thankful smile.

"Thank you, Kirito." Sachi said which caused Kirito to blush a little

"Hey, Kirito," Keita said getting Kirito's attention "I hope you don't mind me asking, but I was curious as to what level you're at."

Kirito thought about telling Keita that he was Level Forty Five, but he then thought about how Keita and the rest of the guild would react if they found out a high level player was in there presence right now. He thought that they'd probably wonder why a high level player was all the way down on Floor Eleven. It's not exactly great etiquette for someone as strong as Kirito to be on one of the lower floors. At worst, telling them how strong he was would probably make them think that he was just down there trying to rob any of the lower level players of getting any experience points from killing mobs, that he was just trying to make himself stronger and leave the lower players to remain weak and die. Even though he was really just getting some simple item drops from monsters, Kirito thought that maybe, for now, not telling them the truth would be for the best.

"...Level Twenty." Kirito lied

"Whoa! Really?!" Keita asked with huge excitement in his voice "You're at our level and you beat those monsters as a solo player? You're a serious inspiration!"

"Keita, being a solo player just means I'm always hunting monsters out in the boonies." Kirito said "it's really not very efficient."

"Oh...I see." Keita replied "...Well, I hate to spring this out on you all of the sudden, but if you'd like, I'd really appreciate it if you joined our guild."

Keita's sudden request really caught Kirito off guard. He wasn't expecting Keita to already be so warm and welcoming that he'd ask him to join up with his guild after only just meeting him today.

"Tetsuo is currently the only one we can put out on the front lines right now." Keita started explaining "Me and Sasamaru don't really do that well with fighting up close, and Ducker's attacks don't do that much damage because he's more skilled in treasure hunting. And as for Sachi, I was thinking of having her switch to using a sword and shield lately, that way we can have someone else on the front lines. The problem is she's always saying she doesn't think she can handle it. Maybe you can teach her a thing or two if you decide to join us."

"Hey now, I'm not that weak." Sachi said looking at Keita with a pouty face "Honestly, I keep telling you that you can't just put me up front expecting me to already know what to do. I'd be terrified."

"It's not that bad, Sachi, just always be sure to use your shield." Tetsuo suggested

"Yeah. For the longest time, you've always been a scardy-cat." Ducker teased

Sachi closed her eyes and groaned as the others all laughed.

"Don't mind our behaviour, Kirito, we always joke around like that towards each other." Keita said "Truth be told, we've all known each for a long time because we all go to the same high school and are part of the computer club in real life. But if you're feeling worried about fitting with us, don't. If you ask me, I think I speak for all of us when I say that we already consider you a part of our group."

Everyone else nodded their heads while smiling at Kirito. Kirito, however, paid more attention to how Sachi smiled at him. Her smile was so sweet, bright, and cherishing, it made him blush again. Kirito looked down at his glass, thinking about Keita's proposal. He was already strong enough and smart enough to make it through the game on his own, so he wouldn't really need to join any kind of guild for that matter. But, knowing how lacking the Moonlit Black Cats were in proper strength, and how they all nearly died just a couple of hours ago, he wouldn't feel right just leaving them behind. He began to think that maybe if he accepted the request, he can help them out with getting stronger and becoming smart enough for them all to properly take care of each other. Kirito then looked back up at Sachi, who was still giving him that one of a kind smile. Kirito then felt a smile forming on his own face and he then turned to face Keita.

"Alright, I'll do it." Kirito said

Keita and everyone else cheered in delight at Kirito's answer. Keita then raised his glass high in the air.

"Alright, everyone, glasses up!" Keita announced as the rest of the guild, including Kirito, raised their glasses "A third and final toast for tonight! To our newest friend and the newest member of the Moonlit Black Cats! To Kirito!"

"To Kirito!" Everyone cheered as Kirito raised his glass even higher in happy response to everyone's cheers

Kirito and his new guild all sat and talked throughout the whole night as they ate their dinner together when it finally arrived. Even though Kirito had only planned on staying with the Moonlit Black Cats until they were all stronger and smarter, for some reason, Kirito felt more happy joining because of Sachi. He couldn't really explain it, but he just felt some sort of attraction towards Sachi. The more Kirito looked at Sachi, the more he began to realize how pretty she looked. He especially really liked her beautiful smile. Kirito began to think that he was probably going to really enjoy being in this new guild.

(May 9th, 2023)

For the next month, Kirito had been helping the Moonlit Black Cats work really hard at getting stronger and smarter so they could advance to the higher floors. Keita eventually got Sachi to finally switch out her spear to using a sword and shield, but she hasn't been doing too well on the front lines. In fact, she's been protecting herself with her shield more than actually fighting. So far, Kirito and Tetsuo were the only ones actually doing anything on the front lines. Kirito had been doing his best to hold himself back from using any of his true strength to insure that nobody found out about how strong he truly is. He even made sure to let Tetsuo switch in with him a lot to let Tetsuo get as many experience points as he could in order to level up faster.

So far, the Moonlit Black Cats have been very successful at getting much stronger at a much faster pace, thanks to Kirito's help. However, Kirito also knew that he wasn't going to get that much stronger if he only fought a bunch of weak monsters on the lower floors. A lot of times, late at night, Kirito would sneak out of the inn that he and the guild would always use for their headquarters and move up to the higher floors to get some real experience points. Even though he was now a member of the Moonlit Black Cats, he was still a member of the Assault Team, so he had to keep on making himself as strong as he possibly could. Right now, Kirito was currently at level Fifty Two.

And speaking of the Assault Team, during the past month, they have officially cleared Floor Twenty Six and advanced up to Floor Twenty Seven. On the day of the Floor Twenty Six boss raid, Kirito had to come up with an excuse to not join his guild for level raising that day in order to go join up with the Assault Team. He simply told his guild that he had some important business that he had to take care off for a friend of his, which wasn't necessarily a lie since he knew that Cloud and Asuna who was now officially with the Knights of the Blood Oath would all be there to fight the boss. Luckily, Keita was very understanding of the situation and allowed Kirito to go off.

After the Assault Team had defeated the boss and cleared the floor, Cloud finally got the chance to catch up with Kirito on what had been happening since the last time they saw each other. It was then that Cloud noticed Kirito's new Moonlit Black Cats icon next to Kirito's health meter. Kirito had told Cloud about how he saved and met the Moonlit Black Cats just a couple of days after they both went their separate ways and how he decided to join them in order to help them get stronger and be a much more independent guild. Cloud told Kirito how much he admired Kirito's desire to help people get stronger and have a better chance of staying alive throughout this whole death game.

Cloud then told Kirito that he too had joined a guild. He told Kirito that he ran into Klein, the same man that they both met when SAO first launched, and told Klein about how he and Kirito went their separate ways. Klein then invited Cloud to join his guild called Fuurinkazan, which consisted of six members including Klein. After Cloud accepted his offer, Klein led Cloud to their guild's headquarters and Klein introduced Cloud to everyone. Cloud had been doing quests and hunting down mobs with Klein and the others since then. Kirito was really glad that Cloud was figuring out his own way of how he wanted to continue to make it through the game.

But today, the Assault Team were now going to make their move on clearing Floor Twenty Seven and defeating the boss. Kirito didn't think it'd be safe to make the same excuse he made last time or any kind of excuse for that matter to his guild. He knew it would only raise some suspicion among his guild members if he just kept on leaving and coming back on the same days a boss is defeated and a new floor is opened. So he decided to not attend today's raid.

Right now, Kirito and the others were on Floor 20 fighting a giant praying mantis that had glowing red eyes and blades for front legs. The praying mantis raised one of it's blade legs and threw it down at Sachi. Sachi quickly held her shield up and coward behind it as the blade hit the shield. Kirito quickly noticed that Sachi was still too scared to face the enemy head-on.

"Sachi, fall back!" Kirito called out to her "I'll take care of this!"

Sachi did what Kirito said and quickly moved back out of the Praying Mantis' reach. The Praying Mantis then switched its target and tried throwing its right blade leg at Kirito, but Kirito quickly used a sword skill to cut off the enemy's blade leg, causing it to lose some health. The Praying Mantis then tried throwing it's other blade leg down at Kirito, but Kirito used his sword to deflect it and throw it off balance. Kirito then turned to face Tetsuo.

"Come on, Tetsuo, switch with me!" Kirito cried out

"Got it!" Tetsuo replied as he immediately rushed in with his mace in hand

Tetsuo swung his mace to the left, attack the Praying Mantis's neck. Tetsuo's attack took the last of the enemy's health and the Praying Mantis' body glowed a bright blue light before shattering into many glowing pieces. Tetsuo then got a notification showing the experience, col, and items he got from killing the enemy. The also got another notification showing that he had levelled up to Level Twenty Five. Tetsuo cheered in glee at his achievement as his other guildmates started congratulating him while Kirito stood there proudly.

After the battle, the guild decided to take a lunch break. Kirito and Keita were sitting together having their lunch while Keita was laying down on the ground, reading the latest newspaper that was published by Argo.

"Wow..." Keita said as he read the newspaper "The Assault Team made it up to Floor Twenty Eight, and the Knights of the Blood Oath have once again prevented any casualties from happening. That's amazing."

Kirito was feeling really happy to know that the Assault Team had made it to the next floor today and more importantly that Cloud and Asuna had made it through the boss fight alive.

"Hey, Kirito..." Keita said getting Kirito's attention "What do you think the Assault Team has that we don't? What do you think it is that makes them so strong?"

Kirito thought about his answer carefully. He wanted to make sure he didn't say anything too obvious to make himself sound like he would have anything to do with the Assault Team. Luckily, he had a perfect answer.

"I think it's that they have accessed information." Kirito said "With that, they can figure out the easiest ways to get experience points to get stronger as well as figure out the easiest ways to fight the enemies, and they don't really share that with a lot of the other players."

Keita then set the newspaper down and crossed his arms while looking up at the sky.

"Yeah, maybe..." Keita said "...But I think what really sets them apart from everyone else is willpower."

"What do you mean?" Kirito asked as Keita sat up

"I guess what I mean is that they have the incredibly strong will to stand up and fight for their friends or any player for that matter." Keita explained as he then looked over at Kirito "I personally like to believe that we have that same kind of drive, even though we still need the protection. That said, our first priority is looking out for each other. But someday, if we get strong enough, we'll join the elites in the Assault Team and help clear this game for everyone."

Kirito really admired the way that Keita thought about this whole situation. If he and the rest of the Moonlit Black Cats get strong enough to make it to the front lines, his ideals can probably help change the elitist attitude within the Assault Team.

Suddenly, Ducker appeared right behind Keita.

"Hey, leader, give me some love!" Ducker said as he put Keita in a loose headlock

Tetsuo, Sasamaru, and Sachi all came walking up behind Ducker all laughing at his behaviour.

"So, do you really think we can be as strong as the Holy Dragon Alliance or the Knights of the Blood Oath?" Sasamaru asked

"Well, yeah. There's nothing wrong with setting our sights high." Keita said uncomfortably within Ducker's headlock "But we have to be at least Level Thirty Five first."

"That's impossible. There's no way we'd get that strong." Sachi said

"Nothing's impossible, Sachi." Keita said as he gave her a confident smile "Ever since Kirito joined us, levelling up has been much easier for us. With him on board, I'm positive we can all reach that level in no time."

Kirito watched as Ducker tightened his headlock, making Keita move his body irritatedly and making everyone else laugh in joy. Kirito began to feel a really special kind of warmth within him. He really enjoyed seeing how much Keita and the others all treated each other like family despite being trapped in this death game. It was then when Kirito started to really want to share with the guild what they were all sharing with each other right now.

Later that day, at nighttime, at the inn in Taft, Keita had gathered up everyone in a bedroom for an important announcement. Sachi and Tetsuo sat on one bed while Kirito, Sasamaru and Ducker sat on the other. Keita stood in between both ends of the beds looking at everyone

"Alright, everyone, listen up!" Keita announced "After our latest hunt in the fields today, we've officially earned two hundred thousand col!"

Everyone, except for Kirito, all gasped in amazement.

"Oh man, buying our own house doesn't sound like such a pipe dream anymore." Tetsuo said excitedly

"Yeah, but still need about half as much as we've got in order to get a house at least at the Town of Beginnings." Keita responded

"I've got an idea!" Sasamaru called out "We should use some of it to upgrade Sachi's equipment; get her up to our level of armour."

"That sounds like a good idea." Keita said

However, Sachi shook her head in denial.

"I'm fine with what I have." Sachi insisted

"Oh, come on." Ducker said "You're taking more damage than the rest of us because of how light your armour set is. Plus, it's not fair to keep on having Kirito switch out for you and be upfront forever."

"Oh...I'm sorry." Sachi said sadly

"Nah, it's okay." Kirito said softly at Sachi "I really don't mind being upfront."

"Thanks, Kirito." Keita said before looking over at Sachi "I know switching jobs isn't easy, but I promise you're almost there. All we need to do is get you better equipment and you'll be able to pull it off. You can do it, I know you can."

While Sachi really appreciated Keita's optimism, she still had a look and feeling of uncertainty. She then looked over at Kirito, which cause him to blush a little. Kirito then smiled at her confidently, which in return caused her to blush a little but also bring up a small smile on her face.

Later that night, Kirito did his usual routine of sneaking out of the inn and heading up to the higher floors to get in some real experience earning. He made his way all the way up to Floor Twenty Eight, over to a field called the Wolf Plains. Once he arrived there, he noticed a group of seven players fighting against a mob of big red wolves. He then noticed two familiar players who were being chased by, or better yet leading, a red wolf. These two players were Cloud and Klein. Klein suddenly turned around and peformed a downwards slash with his katana at the wolf, making the wolf stop and immediately move back.

"Cloud, now's your chance!" Klein cried out

Cloud quickly turned around with his greatsword in hand and rushed towards the wolf. He thrusted his sword just below the wolf's chin and right into its chest, just before he pulled his sword upwards, making his sword come up right out of the wolf's body. The wolf then glowed a bright blue colour and shattered into many glowing pieces. Cloud and Klein sheathed their sword and took a deep breath. Klein then walked up to Cloud and gave him a pat on his shoulder.

"That was awesome, Cloud. You really handle yourself well in a fight." Klein complemented

"Thanks, Klein." Cloud replied plainly

Klein went over to tell his other guild members that the trash mob was all theirs to take care of. Cloud looked around for any more wolves to kill, but what he found next caught him by surprise.

"Hey! Kirito!" Cloud called out as he waved over to his friend

"Oh!" Kirito quickly said as he then waved back "Hey Cloud!"

Cloud rushed over to Kirito.

"Hey, Kirito, where have you been during the boss raid earlier today?" Cloud asked "I didn't see you there."

"Oh, well I was down on Floor Twenty helping my guildmates continue levelling up and getting stronger." Kirito answered

"And you just decided not to attend today's boss fight?" Cloud asked as he cocked his eyebrow

"Well..." Kirito paused for a few seconds "...the thing is, they don't know that I'm part of the Assault Team. They think I'm only as strong as they are because I didn't tell them about my real level."

Cloud cocked his eyebrow even higher.

"Why didn't you tell them the truth?" Cloud asked

"Because I didn't want to raise any suspicion among them as to why I was even down on the lower floors." Kirito answered, "I didn't want them to start thinking that I was just trying to be a petty player and take all the mobs from the lower level players for myself."

"But you're not like that. You would never take away any of the lower level player's chances at getting stronger." Cloud retorted

"I know, I just didn't want them to start thinking that about me." Kirito responded

"Then why didn't you just tell them the real reason as to why you were down on the lower floors?" Cloud asked, "Surely they would have understood the reason you had."

Kirito was now at a pause. Cloud actually had a point; Kirito really could have just told the Moonlit Black Cats that he was just down on Floor Eleven getting some easy drops to fill up his item storage. There really was no need to lie to them.

"...Because I didn't think of it?" Kirito answered sheepishly

Cloud sighed through his nostrils and shook his head slowly with his eyes closed.

"Honestly, Kirito, you're gonna have to tell them the truth eventually." Cloud said "It's not good to be hiding the truth from those who trust you and see you as a friend. They'll eventually catch onto the truth and they'll really start questioning their trust in you. Plus, we still need you up on the front lines helping us out with clearing the floors."

Suddenly, Cloud heard Klein calling out to him.

"Hey Cloud, this area's all clear! We can move on now!" Klein called out

Cloud looked over at Klein.

"Okay, got it!" Cloud responded before turning back to Kirito "So, you wanna level up together, for old time's sake?"

Kirito felt a smile form on his face. He then drew his sword from his back and gave Cloud a confident look.

"Okay, but this time I'm gonna get more kills than you." Kirito said confidently

"Oh, you're on!" Cloud replied as he then drew his greatsword

Kirito and Cloud rushed over to join Klein and the rest of Fuurinkazan. They all spent about the next three hours hunting and killing wolves, gaining a lot more experience, col, and items. While they were out training, Cloud told Kirito that his Fifteenth Birthday was this month, on the Twenty Fourth. Kirito told Cloud that he would make sure to come over to the Fuurinkazan headquarters that day and celebrate his birthday with him. By the end of their experience gaining, Kirito and Cloud ended up getting an equal amount of killed wolves by the end of their experience gaining, so Cloud was still ahead of Kirito at one to zero.

The next day, Keita had announced to everyone that they were all going to go to a dungeon to get more experience points. However, just an hour after Keita's announcement, Sachi left the inn and didn't return since then. It was now 20:00 at night, and Kirito was sitting on his bed inside of his inn room, waiting for Keita to let him know if Sachi had returned yet so they could all go down to the dungeon. Suddenly, Kirito heard a knock at his door.

"Come in!" Kirito called out

Kirito watched as the door slowly swung open and Keita revealed himself behind the door. Keita had a really concerned look on his face.

"What's wrong, Keita?" Kirito asked

"It's about Sachi. We've all decided to already go and head out for the dungeon, but she still hasn't come back yet." Keita answered "Kirito, could you do me a huge favour and go look for her?"

Kirito was surprised to hear that Sachi still hasn't come back yet, but he nodded his head in agreement to Keita's request. Kirito got up from his bed and walked out of his bedroom. Once Kirito was outside of the inn, Kirito opened up his menu and selected the Track option, an ability that's used for locating remaining fresh footprints of friends, party members, or guild members. Once he selected Sachi's name, his eyes then changed colour from black to like a mixture of green and yellow. Kirito looked around to see if there were any footprints still around. He looked over to his far left and noticed a glow of remaining footprints in the distance. Kirito chased down the footprints across the main streets, and a few dark alleys of Taft. The footprints eventually lead Kirito to a tall stone bridge. The footprints lead down the stairs that lead to a little walkway underneath the bridged. As Kirito followed the footsteps and walked down the stairs, he turned around to in the other direction of the walkway...and found her sitting right under the bridge.

"Sachi!" Kirito called out to her

Sachi slowly lifted her head and looked over to her left to see Kirito standing next to her.

"Kirito..." Sachi said softly

"Everyone's been worried about you since you left the inn earlier." Kirito said

Sachi looked away from Kirito and looked down at the water that slowly flowed right under the bridge. Kirito walked over closer to Sachi and sat down about eight feet away from her.

"Kirito...Let's run away together." Sachi said softly

"Run away from what? Kirito asked as he looked over in Sachi's direction

"...From this town...the monsters...the Moonlit Black Cats...and Sword Art Online." Sachi answered softly, causing Kirito to panic

"Are- Are you talking about suicide?!" Kirito asked in a panicked voice

Sachi shook her head slowly.

"No...If I had the guts to die, I wouldn't be preferring to hide in the Town of Beginnings, where it's safe." Sachi answered "It's just...why can't we just leave this world? Why do we have to be forced to survive or die in here when it's just a stupid game? What's the point of being made to go through all of this?"

Kirito thought about what Sachi said. He thought about saying it was because they had to fight in order to get out of the game and return to their normal lives, but he realized that wasn't what she was asking. She was asking why would Akihiko Kayaba force so many people to either fight for their survival or live out their lives inside of a VR game? What purpose did Kayaba have to put all of the players through this and what did he want to get out of it? Kirito sighed silently.

"I can't really say." Kirito admitted "I don't know what Akihiko Kayaba wanted when he trapped us all in here. I'm sorry."

Sachi looked down at her knees as tears started to dwell up in her eyes.

"...I...I'm so afraid of dying in here." Sachi said unsteadily "I've been so scared of dying ever since one of my friends outside of the Moonlit Black Cats was killed on the first floor during the first month we got trapped in here."

Kirito's eyes widened in shock at Sachi's sudden reveal.

"...She was always very careful, but when I found out that she had died...I couldn't stop thinking about how little of a chance I have at making out of here alive." Sachi choked as tears were now rolling down her cheeks "I've been so scared of dying, I've barely ever been able to get any sleep these past few months. I don't even remember the last time I ever got a full night's rest."

Kirito watched as Sachi sobbed into her knees. It really hurt Kirito to see Sachi like this, so much so that he moved closer to Sachi and used his right arm to pull her into a warm, comforting hug. Sachi slowly looked up at Kirito with tears still in her eyes as Kirito looked at her with a serious look.

"You're not going to die." Kirito said in a serious, yet gentle tone

"How...How can you be so sure?" Sachi asked while still choking on her own tears

"Because the Moonlit Black Cats are strong enough as an independent guild, and their margin of safety is well above the normal one. Plus, you've got me and Tetsuo fighting up front. So you really don't have to fight on the front lines with us." Kirito answered

"...You really don't think I'll die? You really think I'll make it back home, to the real world?" Sachi asked now in a bit of a clearer voice

Kirito smiled brightly and softly at her.

"Of course you will." Kirito reassured, "I promise you that we'll make it through this game and go home in no time. You'll see, Sachi."

Sachi could still feel the tears rolling down her eyes, but this time, because of how reassuring Kirito was that she'll make it out alive, she was now crying tears of pure relief and joy and she gave Kirito that beautiful smile of her own.

Kirito and Sachi eventually returned to the inn and waited for the others to return. When Keita and the others finally came back and saw that Sachi was home safe and sound, they all surrounded her and expressed how worried they were for her and how relieved they are now knowing that she is alright. Kirito once again felt that special warmth in his heart at the sight of how loving the Moonlit Black Cats were all towards each other. But then he thought about what Cloud said to him the other night, about needing to tell Keita and the others the truth about his true strength.

Later that night, Kirito had his menu open getting himself ready to go back out and do some hunting on the higher floors. Suddenly, Kirito heard a light knock at his door.

"Come in!" Kirito called out as he quickly closed his menu

The door slowly swung open and, very much to Kirito's surprise, behind the door was Sachi. Sachi was in a bright blue nightgown while carrying a pillow in her left arm.

"Hey Kirito, I'm sorry for walking in on you this late at night, but I'm still having some trouble getting to sleep." Sachi said softly "...Do you mind if I slept with you tonight?"

Kirito blushed madly at Sachi's request. Never before in his life has he ever had a girl ask to sleep with him in the same bed before. Well, there actually was his cousin who'd ask to sleep with him whenever she'd have nightmares, but Sachi was a completely different story. Regardless, Kirito managed to get himself together.

"Y- Yeah. Sure." Kirito said

"Thank you." Sachi said as she walked into Kirito's room and closed the door behind her.

She walked over to Kirito's bed, moved Kirito's pillow over a bit to make some room for her own pillow, and slowly climbed under the covers. Kirito got up from his bed and turned off the lights in his room. Kirito walked back over to the bed and climbed under the covers on the other side of the bed.

"Kirito..." Sashi said quietly getting Kirito's attention "...thank you for being there to comfort me."

Kirito smiled softly at her and moved his left hand to place it on her left shoulder.

"You don't have to thank me." Kirito spoke softly to her "I meant everything I said to you. I promise that you're going to survive...and I promise that I will protect you."

Sachi smiled very happily at Kirito's words and placed her right hand over Kirito's left hand for the extra comfort. Kirito looked at her blissfully as she closed her eyes and nuzzled into her pillow while keeping her hand over Kirito's. Because of everything that has happened so far, Kirito had now come to no longer want to just be part of the Moonlit Black Cats just to make them stronger. He now wanted to stay because he wanted to keep Sachi safe. He had no doubt that because of how strong he is, that Sachi will be safe so long as he's in the guild.

He thought about the possibility of there being a lot of other players like her, who are too afraid of dying to have the strength to stand up and fight for their survival. But even still, people like Sachi still laugh, cry, and do everything they can to live their lives as best as possible. It was something he had never thought of before. It was then that Kirito truly began to see that even in this death game, living life and being happy with other people isn't impossible. Life inside of Sword Art Online was truly just as real as it is in the real world...And Kirito had Sachi and the rest of the Moonlit Black Cats to thank for teaching him that very important lesson.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: This Is My Wish

(May 24th, 2023)

Since that night where Kirito found Sachi hiding under the bridge and she told him about her unbearable fear of dying in the game, Kirito decided to make a good first step at making good on his promise to always protect Sachi. Kirito decided to talk to Keita about Sachi's experience with the loss of one of her friends and how it has badly affected her to the point where she's too scared to fight on the front lines and also hasn't been able to get a lot of proper sleep for the longest time. Kirito asked Keita if he could take Sachi's place and permanently remain on the front lines along with Tetsuo. Much to Kirito's pleasure, Keita agreed to Kirito's request. Kirito made sure to tell Sachi the good news and it really made him happy to see how much happier and relieved she looked.

For the past thirteen days, Kirito and the rest of the Moonlit Black Cats have been doing some more hunting out in the boonies on Floor Twenty. Everyone, excluding Kirito, managed to level up to Level Twenty Six within that time. Kirito and Sachi also went grocery shopping together one time when Keita said that the guild needed some more food for whenever they go on lunch breaks during quests and enemy hunting. Kirito and Sachi even once shared an apple together while they were both out getting the groceries, which made for a really nice and sweet moment between the two.

Right now, Kirito was getting ready to go on Floor Twenty Seven because today was Cloud's fifteenth birthday. A couple of nights ago, Kirito asked where Cloud wanted to meet up with him and Cloud told Kirito to come to the local inn in Ronbaru. Later that night, while Kirito was sneaking out of the inn to head up to the higher floors to get stronger, he first made sure to stop by the shopping district on Floor Twenty Eight and pick up a birthday present for Cloud. Kirito made sure to ask for Keita's permission to have the Twenty Fourth off because he wanted to celebrate his friend's birthday in Ronbaru on Floor Twenty Seven. Although, much to Kirito's surprise, Sachi asked if she could come with Kirito and meet his friend. Kirito asked Sachi exactly why she wanted to come and, catching him off guard and making him blush madly, she said it was because she wanted to spend more time with Kirito. After Kirito got himself back together, he humbly accepted her request.

Once Kirito finished getting himself ready, he left his bedroom and headed down to the Inn's lobby/restaurant, where he found Sachi already up and waiting for him. Kirito smiled at her.

"Hey Sachi, you already ready to go?" Kirito asked

Sachi nodded with that same beautiful smile of hers.

"I've been ready for the past fifteen minutes." Sachi answered

"Alright, then let's go." Kirito replied

Kirito and Sachi left the inn and, for the past twenty minutes, walked all the way over to the town square of Taft. Kirito led Sachi onto the teleporter, which was a stone platform that could take players to any of the main towns on any of the current floors.

"Alright, Sachi, just to give you a heads up, we are going to Ronbaru, which is located up on Floor Twenty Seven." Kirito said

Sachi's eyes went really wide.

"Why are we going onto one of the higher floors?" Sachi asked in a surprised tone "Is your friend a high-level player or something?"

While Kirito still wasn't sure if it was time to tell anyone in the guild the truth about his own strength, he believed he could at least let Sachi know about how strong Cloud is.

"Yes, he is." Kirito answered, "As a matter of fact, he's one of the members on the front lines in the Assault Team."

Sachi gasped, not out of fear, but out of amazement.

"That's incredible." Sachi said in astonishment "He must be very strong and really brave to be out on the front lines of the Assault Team."

"He really is." Kirito replied, "Alright, you ready?"

"Yes, I'm ready." Sachi answered

As Kirito and Sachi both stood on the stone teleporter, they announced the place they wished to be teleported to. They both watched as a big thick bright blue sphere formed around both of them, cutting off their view from the town that was already surrounding them. When the bright blue sphere started going thin again and disappeared, they both looked around to see that they were now in a completely different city.

They were both now in Ronbaru. Kirito and Sachi started walking around the town, asking the townsfolk where they could find the local inn. Suddenly, while Kirito and Sachi were still trying to find the inn, they both heard a voice from behind them.

"Hey, Kirito!" The voice called out

Kirito and Sachi turned around to see who was calling out to them. While Sachi was clueless as to who the person was, Kirito was the only one who could recognize the scruffy-looking guy with the red bandana on his head. It was Klein, who was now running up to him.

"Yo, Kirito, what are you doing here…" Klein asked as his focused slowly moved over onto Sachi "…with a girl?"

Sachi started to grow a bit uncomfortable at Klein's last set of words. Kirito was able to notice this, but unfortunately, Sachi's discomfort only grew when Klein suddenly grabbed hold of her hands.

"Hi! What's your name?" Klein asked ecstatically "My name is Klein! I'm Twenty Three, I'm single, and I'm looking for a-"

Klein's rambling was cut short when Kirito suddenly punched him in the side of the head. Klein held onto his head while Kirito slightly shook his hand after the impact. Sachi looked over at Kirito with a thankful smile, which he returned with a smile of his own.

"I'm actually glad you're here, Klein." Kirito said before continuing "We're actually looking around for local inn."

Klein shot his head up as if he was just in a sudden realization.

"Oh yeah, that's right! Cloud invited you up here for his birthday." Klein said before continuing "I was just out here running a little errand for this big occasion."

"That's really nice of you to do, Klein." Kirito complimented "So could you tell us where the inn is?"

"Oh yeah, sure." Klein said before he pointed in the direction behind Kirito and Sachi "Just walk about twenty blocks from here, take a turn to the left and walk five blocks, and then make a turn to the right and walk about 15 blocks. You'll find the inn on your left afterwards."

"Awesome! Thanks Klein." Kirito said as he and Sachi were about to walk away

"Hey, Kirito…" Klein said causing Kirito and Sachi to stop walking "Could you please not tell Cloud that you saw me earlier? I'd like to keep this errand as much of a secret as much as I can."

"Sure, I'll keep my mouth shut." Kirito said with a thumbs up

Kirito and Sachi finally started moving along again. For about the next fifteen minutes, they followed the exact directions that Klein had given them until they finally arrived at the inn. Kirito and Sachi both walked up to the double doors of the inn and Kirito opened them both, leading himself and Sachi inside. It wasn't too long before Kirito was noticed by the one person that he was looking for.

"Kirito!" A familiar voice called out

Kirito looked over to his left and smiled as he saw Cloud walking up to him.

"Hey Cloud, it's good to see you again. Happy Birthday." Kirito said

"Thanks a lot, man." Cloud said before his attention moved over to Sachi "Oh, who's this?"

Sachi suddenly started to feel that familiar discomfort earlier before Kirito places his hand on her shoulder. Kirito gave Sachi a reassuring smile, letting Cloud was just fine. Kirito looked back over at Cloud.

"This is Sachi. She's one of the members of the Moonlit Black Cats, the guild that I told you I joined up with." Kirito answered

Cloud smiled at Sachi as he put out his hand.

"Well it's nice to meet you, Sachi. I'm Cloud." Cloud said

Sachi slowly extended her arm out and took hold of Cloud's hand. A smile formed on Sachi's face as Cloud gently shook her hand.

"Oh! By the way, Cloud, I got you something." Kirito said as he opened up his menu

Kirito first sent in a trade request for Cloud before scrolling through his items and selecting the item that he bought for Cloud a couple of nights ago, and then Kirito closed his menu. Once Cloud accepted Kirito's trade request, he got the item into his inventory. Cloud opened up his own menu and selected his new item.

In Cloud's hands appeared a large brand new two handed ebony greatsword. A huge, bright, and happy smile appeared on Cloud's face.

"A brand new sword! This is AWESOME!" Cloud cried out loud "Thanks Kirito!"

"No need to thank me, Cloud. It is your birthday, after all." Kirito said

Kirito suddenly felt a hand grab onto his own. Clearly it wasn't Cloud's hand because both of his were already full with his new sword. Kirito looked over to his left, and he felt a blush form on his face when he realized it was Sachi who grabbed onto his hand. Sachi, once again, gave Kirito that bright gentle smile. However, this time, there was something else in it. There was a sense of sincere trust and safety in her smile. Out of instinct, in return, Kirito smiled back at her.

Throughout most of the day, Kirito and Sachi listened to Cloud as he told them about his experience with Fuurinkazan as Kirito and Sachi shared their experience as being part of the Moonlit Black Cats together for nearly two months. Cloud even told Sachi about the one time he defended Kirito against a jerk who claimed Kirito to be a bad person, to which Kirito retorted that Cloud was acting rather crude while doing so. When Klein finally returned to the inn, he surprised Cloud with a birthday cake that he got from the town's bakery. Kirito, Sachi, Klein, and the rest of Fuurinkazan all made sure to sing happy birthday to Cloud just before they all stuffed their faces with the cake.

Soon, it was now dusk and Kirito decided that he and Sachi should be getting back to their own guild by now. Cloud thanked Kirito and Sachi for coming and he told them that he hoped to see them again real soon. Cloud even asked Kirito, out of curiosity, when his birthday was. Kirito told Cloud that his Fifteenth birthday would be on October Seventh, to which Cloud said he would be sure to remember. Kirito and Sachi made sure to say goodbye to Cloud, Klein, and the rest of Fuurinkazan before he left the inn and started making their way back to the teleporter.

"Cloud was really nice." Sachi said while smiling

"Yeah, he's pretty awesome." Kirito replied "Even though he can be rather crude sometimes, he always has his heart in the right place."

"You're very lucky to have him as your friend, Kirito." Sachi said very sweetly

"Thank you, Sachi." Kirito responded with a small blush on his face

By the time they got back home, Keita and the others were already having their dinner, allowing Kirito and Sachi to join them. Later on, after dinner, Sachi made a request to Kirito to create an inventory space between just the two of them. Kirito was confused as to why Sachi wanted to create an inventory space when the guild already had one, but Sachi said it was because she wanted to be able to grab any health potions as quickly as possible if she needed to. Not seeing much of a reason to argue any further, Kirito accepted Sachi's request and they formed an inventory space together.

(June 21st, 2023)

Nearly a full month has passed since Kirito and Sachi went off to see Cloud and celebrate his birthday. Since then, the Moonlit Black Cats have continued to go on quests and go hunting for monsters in order to get stronger. Everyone, excluding Kirito, were all now at Level Twenty Eight. It was currently nighttime and Keita was holding another guild announcement for everyone tonight in one of the bedrooms at the inn in Taft.

"Everyone, I have an important announcement to make." Keita announced getting everyone's full attention "It has taken us all a long time, but at long last, we finally have enough col to buy a house on the first floor!"

Everyone gasped in surprise and all stayed silent for a few seconds, but then everyone started cheering and even clapping at the news that Keita had just given them.

"So, when are we gonna get our new house?" Tetsuo asked

"Tomorrow in the afternoon, I'm going to be going to the Town of Beginnings to purchase our new home." Keita said "As for you guys, I want you guys to feel free to take tomorrow off. You've all worked very hard to help us all get to this point, so you guys deserve to have a lucky break."

"Thank you, Keita. Thank you so much." Sachi said happily

"This is great! Now we don't have to worry about blowing our money on renting bedrooms anymore!" Sasamaru cheered "I never thought that buying a house could be so exciting."

"Dude, you sound like an old man." Ducker retorted which made everyone in the room laugh together

Later that night, Kirito was once again preparing to sneak out of the inn to go do some late night level raising. As Kirito walked down the halls, he heard Sachi's voice coming from one of the rooms. Thanks to how high Kirito's listening skill was, he was able to listen through doors without needing to knock first. Kirito slowed down as he listened in on what Sachi was saying.

"…Thank you…Goodbye." Sachi said inside of her room

Kirito was now feeling very concerned as to why Sachi would say something like that. Who was she saying goodbye to and why? Kirito slowly lift his hand and knocked on Sachi's door.

"Oh! Come on in!" Sachi called out

Kirito slowly opened up the door and walked inside to see Sachi sitting on her bed.

"Oh, Kirito." Sachi proclaimed in surprise "What are you doing up?"

"Oh. Uh…" Kirito paused trying to think of an excuse to not raise any suspicion "…I just couldn't get myself to sleep, so I thought I'd go out and take a walk around the town to try to get me to feel tired enough to want to go to sleep."

"Ah, I see." Sachi responded with a small smile

"…Hey, Sachi…" Kirito started "…Who were you saying goodbye to just now?"

Sachi's eye's widened as she began to break out into small drops of sweat.

"How did you hear me?" Sachi asked almost fearfully "Players can't hear through doors unless they knock first."

"They can if their listening skill is high enough." Kirito answered

Sachi started to take a couple of deep breaths, trying to get herself to relax a little better. Once she was feeling calmer, she looked back over at Kirito.

"Well, I was just…officially saying goodbye to my old friend, the one that died on the first floor." Sachi answered

"Oh, I gotcha." Kirito said as he exhaled in relief with a happy smile on his face "Well, I guess I'll leave you alone now."

Kirito was just about to close the door until…

"Wait, Kirito!" Sachi called out causing Kirito to stop "Would you mind if you sat with me for a while?"

Kirito's face was once again all red. Luckily, he was able to regain his composer, walked back into the room, and closed the door behind him. He walked over to the side of the bed that Sachi was sitting on and sat down next to her.

"You know, Kirito…" Sachi started "…Ever since the night you found me under the bridge, when you said you'd make sure I made it out of this game alive, and later that night when you promised you'd protect me no matter what…I cannot ever express to you how happy and safe you made me feel."

Kirito felt a real happy smile forming on his face.

"I'm glad I was able to make you feel safe and happy, because I meant everything I said. I will protect you and make sure you get back home safely." Kirito said confidently yet also very softly

Sachi looked over at Kirito with her genuinely happy smile.

"To tell you the truth…no one, not even my friends in the guild, has ever made me feel this safe before." Sachi admitted to Kirito, which brought up a small blush on his face "I know everyone else thought I was just being paranoid and that I'm not allowing myself to try to be brave and get all that much stronger, but you never did that to me. You saw how scared I was, and you never pushed me to try to be better. You accepted me for exactly how I am, and you offered your protection to ensure my safety…You are a true knight, Kirito…You're my knight."

Kirito felt his cheeks grow really hot after what Sachi had just said. Sachi suddenly wrapped her right arm around Kirito's left arm and placed her hand over his. Sachi then leaned in closer to Kirito and placed a kiss on his cheek. Kirito was now left utterly speechless and practically paralyzed. This was the first time in his life a girl has ever kissed him…well, it wasn't a proper kiss, but still a kiss nonetheless. Sachi then laid her head onto Kirito's shoulder while she still had her arm wrapped around his own and her hand over his. It took Kirito a few minutes before he officially came back to his senses. He slowly moved his hand out from under Sachi's hand and slipped his arm out of Sachi's wrap.

Kirito then slowly wrapped his now freed arm around Sachi's shoulders and held her close to him. Sachi looked up at Kirito and smiled beautifully at him, making Kirito give her a real genuine smile in return. Sachi lifter her left hand and grabbed a gentle hold onto Kirito's hand that was around her shoulder. Much like how Kirito made Sachi feel happy, Sachi also made Kirito feel very happy. So happy, in fact, that Kirito was now more determined than ever to keep Sachi safe from harm and would do anything for her.

It was also right then and there that Kirito decided. Once Keita has bought the house and everyone has settled into their new home, Kirito would finally tell them the truth. He would not lie to them anymore, he would tell them about how strong he really is, that he is a member of the Assault Team, and that he wants to stay with them in order to ensure their safety to help them all get back to the real world, especially for Sachi. While Kirito really cared about all of his guildmates getting back to the real world safely, his top priority was the safety of Sachi. He knew that now more than ever.

The next day, Kirito and the others were all the teleporter in the town square of Taft. Keita was on the teleporter stone platform as he waved goodbye to his fellow guild members.

"Alright, I'm heading out now." Keita said as he looked away from his group "Teleport: Town of Beginnings!"

Kirito and the others watched as Keita was engulfed by a giant thick blue glowing sphere that later disappeared, along with Keita.

"Hey guys, I know Keita gave us the day off, but what do you guys say we go do some monster hunting to raise some extra cash?" Tetsuo asked

"Oh! We can then buy furniture and decorations." Sachi exclaimed excitedly

"I'm totally down for that." Sasamaru said

"Hey, I've got an idea. Let's go do some monster hunting in a dungeon on Floor Twenty Seven." Ducker suggested

This rose a red flag for both Kirito and Sachi. Kirito looked over at Ducker with a serious look on his face.

"We should stick to our usual hunting spots." Kirito said rather firmly

"But up there, we can make more money and at a faster pace too." Sasamaru countered

"And at our levels, we'll be just fine." Ducker assured

"Guys, it wouldn't be wise to go up to a dungeon that's seven floors above the one we're already hunting on. So please take my word for it and let's stick with what we are use to." Kirito argued

"I agree with Kirito. We probably shouldn't go up that high." Sachi said fearfully

"Well, what do you think, Tetsuo?" Ducker asked as he looked over at the mace wielder

Tetsuo put a finger to his lower lip as he put his thinking cap on. For about twenty seconds, Tetsuo just stood there thinking until he got an idea. Tetsuo lowered his finger and lifted his head.

"I say we at least test our strength up there. If we run into any danger that we can't handle, we use some teleport crystals to immediately teleport ourselves back here. No exceptions." Tetsuo suggested

"Sounds good to me." Sasamaru said

Kirito looked over at Sachi as she looked back at him with a fearful look in her eyes. Kirito quickly moved over to her and gently held onto her shoulders.

"Don't worry. I won't let anything happen to you, okay? Remember, I promised you that'd I'd always protect you." Kirito said reassuringly

The fear in Sachi's eyes started to ease up just a little bit. Even though she was still scared, she was glad that Kirito was still willing to protect her no matter what and she smiled at him.

The group teleported to Ronbaru on Floor Twenty Seven and all made their way over to the dungeon. Much to Kirito's fears, they encountered quite a few enemies that Tetsuo, Sasamaru, and even Ducker were having a challenging time with. Kirito made sure to keep himself on the front lines most of the time while also letting Tetsuo, Sasamaru, and Ducker get their chances to do some damage on the enemies themselves. Kirito also made sure to have at least one of them guard Sachi while fights were going on. They all managed to stay alive this far and, much like Sasamaru said, they've been getting a lot more money than they were before. However, Kirito had to make sure that everyone was using their healing crystals after every battle.

Right now, they were all making their way through long hallways that looked like a bunch of giant misplaced cyan pixels. Ducker was in front of everyone.

"See? I told you guys this would be a piece of cake." Ducker said cockily

"Ducker, you realize we're all on a higher floor where the risks are much greater and you've all been taking a lot more damage than you normally did in battle, right?" Kirito asked with a bit of high tension "This was in no way a piece of cake."

Ducker stopped walking, causing everyone to come to a holt, and looked back at Kirito

"Geez, Kirito, what's up with you? You've been acting really jumpy all day." Ducker retorted with a hint of annoyance in his voice "I know the stakes are higher and that we've been taking more damage, but we're doing fine. We haven't yet run into a situation we're not ready for. Most of our fights so far have only been one enemy in front of us at a time. As long as we don't encounter a fight with more than one enemy, we'll most likely be just fine."

Kirito found himself silent and then took in some deep breaths, trying his best to relax himself. As he breathed, he thought about what Ducker said. Ducker was pretty much right, they were doing just fine so far and the enemies they encountered were just one at a time. It was also relieving to Kirito that Ducker was well aware of the dangers of being on a higher floor and already deciding what is too much for them. Once Kirito took in enough deep breaths, he looked back at Ducker.

"Sorry, I just want to make sure we all make it out of here alright." Kirito said calmly

Tetsuo walked over to Kirito and placed a hand on his shoulder while smiling at him.

"And we all highly appreciate your concern, Kirito. We promise that we will use our teleport crystals if we encounter impossible fights or if we run out of potions." Tetsuo reassured as he looked over at both Sasamaru and Ducker "Right fellas?"

"Right." Both Sasamaru and Ducker confirmed

"Thanks guys." Kirito said as he now had a more comfortable smile on his face

They all continued walking. For about the past five minutes, they only walked across the halls until Ducker started to sprint.

"Ducker?" Tetsuo said

"I see something!" Ducker called back to his friend as he continued to sprint

The others ran after Ducker as he got close to what he was seeing. Ducker came to a stop right in front of a wall that had some rather bright markings of little loose pixel pieces sticking together. Ducker placed his hand on pixels and the pixels all started to spread out to each side of the giant pixel they were on. Suddenly, the giant pixel started to move backwards and then a long bright line moved downwards from the top of the giant pixel. The pixel started to split apart until a big room was revealed with a small treasure chest sitting in the center of the room.

"A treasure chest! WAHOO!" Ducker cheered as he rushed into the room with Sasamaru and Tetsuo following behind him

However, Kirito knew a secret room with a single treasure chest inside was the exact opposite of a good sign.

"Ducker, no! Don't open it!" Kirito called out as he ran inside with Sachi following him

It was too late. Ducker had already opened the chest by the time Kirito and Sachi entered the room. Suddenly, an alarm sound was set off as the giant pixels within the room all started to turn red and the secret door closed itself, trapping them all inside.

Soon afterwards, another secret door at the back of the room was opened. Behind the door was a group of enemies called Dark Dwarf Miners, who were all short, but large creatures with large white beards, bright, red eyes and rugged faces that look similar to the faceplates of samurai armour. They are dressed in simple and warm, brown attire, with a red cloak on top and wield simple pickaxes, which they use as their weapon of choice.

Another set of monsters called the Granite Elementals started to spawn within the room as the Miners started running into the room. The Granite Elementals are tall, yet thin, crude, rock-type creatures with asymmetric bodies. They do not have any faces and instead they have a symbol that resembles the sun painted on what should be their faces. The elementals are bipedal and have long arms, which they use instead of a weapon. Although their arms have five fingers like humans, they do not have feet at all.

"It's a trap!" Kirito cried out in horror "Guys, let's get out of here, fast!"

Out of pure fear, Sachi, Tetsuo, Sasamaru, and Ducker all wasted no time pulling out their teleport crystals. Ducker held his crystal up high.

"Teleport: Taft!" Ducker cried out

Unfortunately, nothing seemed to have happened.

"Teleport: Taft!" Ducker cried out again more desperately this time

Just like before, nothing happened. Sachi and the others all looked at their crystals in horror.

"Why won't our crystals work?" Sachi asked

"It's this room. It's an anti-crystal zone." Kirito answered

The Miners all charged over at Kirito and the others. Kirito quickly drew his sword and began quickly attacking the enemies right in front of him. Kirito was already strong enough to kill the Miners with either one or two hits, but he also had to try to act fast as he knew none of his guild members were strong enough to take on this number of enemies, especially Sachi.

Ducker tried to draw his knife, but he was knocked down to the ground by one of the Miners. Three more miners joined up with the one that knocked down Ducker and they all wasted no time mining away on Duckers back. Ducker screamed out in agony at the pain of being rapidly hit in the back by a bunch of pickaxes, but the screaming came to an end as Ducker's health meter went all the way down to zero and his body glowed a bright blue light and shattered into many glowing pieces.

Kirito witnessed this and he felt like a literal hole was just made in his heart. He grew more desperate as he continued trying to kill as many more enemies as he could. Unfortunately, Kirito heard a scream from Tetsuo as he saw Tetsuo be attacked by an Elemental and die instantly after just one hit.

"TETSUO!" Sasamaru cried out in horror as Kirito tried to move much faster at killing his enemies

In an act of rage for the death of his friend, Sasamaru drove his spear into the chest of the Elemental. Unfortunately, his spear barely did any damage towards it. The Elemental lifted its left arm, and swayed it down onto Sasamaru's left side, causing Sasamaru to immediately lose all of his HP and die instantly. Kirito, now far more desperate than ever knowing that he and Sachi are the only ones left, screamed out in fear and desperation as he moved as fast as he possibly could to kill all the enemies inside of the room.

"KIRITO!" Kirito heard Sachi's cry

Kirito quickly turned around to see Sachi trying her best to hold off an Elemental as best she could but was losing health fast.

"SACHI!" Kirito cried out in horror as he rushed over to Sachi as fast as he could

However, in the rudest awakening moment of misfortune possible, an Elemental that was behind Sachi lifted its arm, and swayed it downwards striking Sachi right on the back. Kirito's entire world went completely black and white as he could only see Sachi remain in color as she slowly fell down to the floor. Sachi looked up at Kirito as she fell. She had that one of a kind beautiful smile on her face as she mouthed some words that Kirito was unable to hear. Just as she finished saying what she was saying, her entire body glowed a bright blue light and shattered into many glowing pieces.

Kirito stood there, frozen like a statue…All of his guild members, even Sachi, the one that he promised to always to protect so she could make it back home, have all died right before his eyes. Kirito's entire world remained black and white as he watched the Miners and elementals move closer towards him. The Miners all raised their pickaxes, all ready destroy Kirito with everything they've got.

And then, Kirito snapped.

Kirito spun himself in around in a circle, screaming his head off as his sword struck all of the Miners around him. Kirito screamed even more as he ran around the entire room, killing absolutely everything in sight with everything he had. Left and right, he brutally slaughtered Miners and Elementals while screaming bloody murder. For the past two minutes, Kirito had been screaming like a mad lunatic as he completely wiped out all of the remaining Miners and Elementals. As color began to return to Kirito's world, the red color inside of the room officially changed back to cyan and the secret door opened back up. But Kirito didn't move a single inch from the spot he stood in after he obliterated his last enemy.

Instead, Kirito had only lost all the strength he had in his legs and he fell down to the floor. As Kirito laid there on his side on the floor, his eyes slowly filled with shiny liquid that made it out of his eyes and rolled down the top of his nose and onto the floor right next to him. It wasn't too long before Kirito found himself wailing on the floor like an injured puppy. Kirito had not felt this much pain since the day he found out the truth about his real parents…No, this was worse than that day. Nothing could ever hurt worse than making a special promise to someone and not being able to keep it.

(December 24th, 2023)

Six whole months have passed since the massacre of Kirito's guild members. Since then, Kirito had regrouped with the Assault Team and they have made it all the way to Floor Forty Nine. Cloud had made good on his word and made sure to remember Kirito's birthday on the seventh of October. However, when Cloud went to visit Kirito, he noticed that something was off. Cloud had asked if anything was bothering Kirito, and Kirito told Cloud everything that happened to his entire guild.

Cloud felt a bad sting in his chest at the news of Kirito's guild and Kirito even added in that he strongly believed it was his fault. Cloud did the best he could to reassure his friend that it wasn't his fault for what happened to his guild, but no matter what Cloud said, Kirito held onto that pain and guilt like it was a family treasure…a very unhealthy family treasure.

Speaking of treasures, it was now Christmas Eve, and Christmas decorations were all spread across the town of Floor Forty Nine. Kirito was currently sitting on a bench with a blank expression on his face. Right behind the bench, standing right next to him, was Argo, the former beta tester and info broker that Kirito and Cloud met a full year ago.

"I hear someone's been rather risky with raising his level." Argo said referring directly to Kirito

"You got any new information for me or what?" Kirito asked quietly

"Nothing that's worth charging you money for." Argo replied

"You give info brokers a bad name." Kirito said coldly

"Hey, this wasn't part of the beta test. It's a first-time event. How am I supposed to know if it's actually gonna happen?" Argo asked before she continued "All I know is that at midnight, tonight, on Floor Thirty Five, in the Forest of Wandering, the event boss called Nicholas the Renegade is going to appear under the giant fir tree in the middle of the forest."

"Thanks. That's all I needed to know." Kirito said as he got up from the bench

"Kirito, are you really thinking of going solo on this one?" Argo asked with obvious concern in her voice "Why not bring your greatsword wielding friend? What's his name, Clyde?"

"It's Cloud, and it's better off that he doesn't get involved." Kirito said as he walked away from Argo

A month ago, after Labor Thanksgiving Day, Kirito heard rumors among the NPC townsfolk of Floor Forty Nine about what was described as a heavenly present that only the jolly Saint Nicholas can give. Kirito looked heavily into these rumors and discovered that this heavenly present given by Saint Nicholas is an item that can revive a dead player, and it's an item that can only be obtained if a player defeats the event boss called Nicholas the Renegade when he arrives on Christmas Day at midnight. Since then, Kirito has been taking high risks with making himself stronger. He had a sense of determination mixed with his heart wrenching feelings of guilt, which lead him to go on this road of thinking he'll either make himself as strong as possible and defeat Nicholas, or he'll die trying.

Kirito had high doubts that the dead could really be returned to life since SAO was a literal death game and all of those who died must have been buried or cremated already. But if there was a chance that this item could some how bring Sachi back, Kirito was willing to take it. He had to find out what Sachi was trying to tell him just before she died. But he also didn't care about the risk of doing this mission solo either. If Kirito did manage to revive Sachi and it turns out she was cursing him for breaking his promise, he was willing to accept it. Kirito had already made up his mind that he would be going at it alone, and whatever happens, he'll pay the consequences for it. He'll either live in painful regret without Sachi at his side anymore, or he'll die out in the middle of nowhere all alone. No one will see him, no one will know. Nothing of him will be left behind. That's how he'll die.

As Kirito made his way towards the town's teleporter, he couldn't help but think all the way back to the day when Sachi and everyone else died…and the reaction he got from Keita. When Kirito finally left the dungeon on Floor Twenty Seven, he teleported all the way down to the Town of Beginnings. By the time he found Keita, Keita could see that Kirito was absolutely distraught by something. When Keita asked what was wrong, Kirito revealed everything to Keita. The concerned look on Keita's face turned into what looked like a mixture of shocked, ill, and heartbreak. But Kirito didn't just tell Keita what happened, he also told Keita the truth about how strong he really was, that he lied about his strength. But before Kirito could explain any further, Keita ran up to Kirito and grabbed him by the jacket while pinning him down. Kirito looked up at Keita as tears were wildly running down Keita's cheeks. Out of his feelings of distraught heartbreak and anger towards Kirito's dishonesty, Keita called him a Beater and told Kirito he had no right to be with them, that he should have died long before they have even met him.

As he was now consumed by all the overwhelming emotions of heartbreak and loneliness, Keita made his way towards the very edge of Castle Aincrad, a place where a small yet long stone fence bordered the edge of the Town of Beginnings and the endless sky that Aincrad was floating in. Keita stood up on the fence and looked down. Kirito realized what Keita was trying to do, got up off the ground and tried to stop him. But before Kirito could reach him, Keita had already leaned himself forward and let himself fall off of the fence, down into the endless sky. Kirito watched as the last surviving member of his guild fell further and further away from the edge of Aincrad and vanished from view. The only thing Kirito saw left of Keita were the many glowing pieces that floated upwards into the air. Kirito had once again found himself crying. He was now all alone. Broken promises, dishonesty, the loss of great friends, it was officially the worst day of Kirito's life.

After having reminisced that tragic day, Kirito felt a tear escape from his eye, which he quickly wiped away as he finally arrived at the teleporter. Once Kirito stepped onto the stone platform, he announced his destination and a big thick bright blue sphere engulfed Kirito and vanished along with it.

Unknown to Kirito, Cloud was also in the town on Floor Forty Nine right now. Cloud was currently just walking around the town, admiring the Christmas decorations and all of the beautiful, cheerful holiday music that was playing throughout the town. Christmas was always Cloud's favorite time of the year, the time where everyone got together to share their love for one another, the one of a kind decorations you can't ever see anywhere else, the wonderful act of giving gifts to friends and family, and all of the wholesome music that plays everywhere. There isn't a time in the year where Cloud ever feels happier than on Christmas. As Cloud walked around the town…

"Hey! Cloud!" Cloud heard a voice call out to him

Cloud looked around to see who exactly called out to him. He spotted a familiar face walking over to him and realized it was Argo who called out to him.

"Oh, hey Argo. It's been a long time since I last saw you." Cloud said "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas, Cloud." Argo responded

"…Hey Argo, have you seen Kirito anywhere?" Cloud asked "I've been sending him messages saying that me and my guild are having a Christmas festivity and asking him if he would like to join up with us, but he hasn't been answering. I've also been trying to find him lately so I can ask him in person."

Argo remained silent for just a few seconds before she started speaking up.

"Actually, Cloud, I think it's a good thing you came to me as soon as you did." Argo said with some obvious concern in her voice

"Why? What's wrong?" Cloud asked as he was now also feeling concerned

(23:50)

Kirito was running through the snowy blanket that covered the Forest of Wandering. Kirito had his eyes dead focused on his destination, the giant fir tree right in front of him in the far distance. As Kirito kept on running, he then noticed a bright flash of light up in front of him. He knew it was the light coming from someone how used a teleport crystal. Kirito came to a holt and the light in front of him died down with a familiar person right in front of him.

"Cloud…" Kirito said in surprise

Cloud seemed to have heard Kirito's voice and turned around to face him. Cloud had a really serious look on his face as he looked at Kirito.

"What are you doing here?" Kirito asked

"You should know pretty damn well why I'm here." Cloud said in a cold tone "What are you thinking?"

Kirito realized that Cloud had figured out what he was up to. However, Kirito remained silent, unwilling to answer Cloud's question.

"Don't you realize that you're doing the exact opposite of what you taught me to do?!" Cloud raised his voice a little "You taught me to always be smart and be cautious when facing enemies and always get myself out of fights I know I can't win. Are you seriously throwing all that knowledge away over a rumor of a revival item? For all you know, this rumor could just be completely bogus. You realize you can't just come back if you lose a fight. Once you lose, that's it. You get deleted from this world and your brai- "

"Shut up." Kirito cut Cloud off in a very cold manner

Cloud was taken aback from Kirito's suddenly cold comment. Kirito started walking up to Cloud.

"I taught you everything you needed to learn, now it's your job to worry about getting yourself back home, back to your family." Kirito said as he then walked right past Cloud "You need to quit chasing me like I'm even part of your family."

Cloud felt his fists clenching and his teeth gritting together tightly. His own friend is telling him to just away from him and act like he's just a complete stranger. Cloud couldn't bring himself to do that…he wont.

"You need to quit with all this reckless soloing!" Cloud yelled as he turned around and grabbed hold of Kirito's shoulder "Let me come with you. We'll fight Nicholas together. No matter who gets this item in the end, you'll get to have it in the end. That's fair, right?"

"But then there would be no point. I have to do this…alone." Kirito said

"No, you don't!" Cloud yelled as he tightened his grip on Kirito's shoulder

"Yes, I do!" Kirito yelled back at Cloud "I have to prove to myself if I'm strong enough to beat Nicholas on my own or if I'm just a weak, pathetic, worthless loser can't do anything right, let alone keep a promise!"

"WHY?! BECAUSE YOU FEEL GUILTY?!" Cloud hollered, causing some of the snow from the trees to fall to the ground

A long sullen silence had filled the air between Kirito and Cloud's argument. Cloud tried his best to calm himself down and let go of Kirito's shoulder.

"Kirito, I remember everything you told me about that day. I know what happened." Cloud said in a much calmer tone this time "You did not kill your guild members. Your guildmates got cocky and reckless and they ended up biting off more than they could chew. Sooner or later, you have to realize that and move on with your life."

Cloud was hoping for Kirito to calm down and think about what he had just said. Cloud hoped that Kirito would come to see things the way Cloud was seeing this situation and back off from this dangerous solo mission he has assigned himself to do. Unfortunately, Cloud ended up seeing the opposite of what he had hoped for. Kirito turned around to face Cloud with a very angry expression on his face.

"Did your brother teach you about moving on when your father abandoned you?" Kirito asked in a ruthless, venomous tone

That was it. That comment was the straw that broke the camel's back for Cloud. Cloud glared lividly at Kirito as he raised his right fist and drove it into Kirito's left cheekbone with everything he had. Kirito held onto his cheek as he stumbled back a few feet from Cloud. But, after a few minutes of more sullen silence, Kirito walked back up to Cloud while still holding his face.

"Sachi didn't bite off more than she could chew." Kirito said darkly "She only ever wanted to live her life peacefully. She never wanted to a warrior like her guildmates…It's my fault because I wasn't honest about my strength with my guild and telling them of how dangerous the upper floors were. It's my fault because I didn't tell her to stay behind when we all went up to Floor Twenty Seven. It's my fault that I was not strong enough to save her in time…It's all my fault that she's gone. I promised I'd protect her no matter what, but my own choices are what brought her demise."

Kirito didn't say anything else and didn't do a thing except look at Cloud with all that same anger he felt just before Cloud punched him. Cloud found himself at a loss of words because he never thought about the situation in the way that Kirito had just described it. Kirito then turned away from Cloud.

"Don't ever again pretend like you know what happened when you don't know anything." Kirito said coldly as he began to walk away again "Now go away. I still have a mission I have to finish…alone."

Suddenly, more bright flashes of light appeared in front of Kirito. Kirito watched as the light died down and Klein along with the rest of Fuurinkazan had appeared.

"Ah, there you are, Kirito." Klein said "Cloud said you'd be here."

Kirito looked back at Cloud.

"You told them?" Kirito asked coldly with a hint of annoyance

"I figured a second voice would help change your mind about this." Cloud said

"He's right, Kirito." Klein said "You can't just do this buy yourself. It's suicide, and we refuse to let you just die like this. Come on, please let us help you."

Kirito sighed heavily.

"I already told Cloud the answer is No. I don't want anyone's help. I have to do this on my own, no exceptions." Kirito said bitterly

Suddenly, much to everyone's surprise, even more flashes of light appeared. When the lights all died down, a large group of people in full sets of steel body armor.

"What the hell? Who are these guys?" Cloud asked

"They're the Holy Dragon Alliance!" Klein answered

"What are they doing here?" One of the Fuurinkazan members asked

"They're probably here for the rare item that Kirito is after. They'll do anything to get it, no matter how shady." Another Fuurinkazan member answered

Kirito glared deadly at the members of the Holy Dragon Alliance.

"You bastards." Kirito said venomously as he attempted to draw his sword

"Kirito, no!" Klein cried out as he and his men all drew their weapons "Don't waste your time with these guys! You and Cloud go on ahead, we can hold them off!"

"You sure you can handle this many people, Klein?" Cloud asked

Klein looked over at Cloud and gave him a confident smile.

"Just you wait and see after you and Kirito defeat that boss." Klein said

While Cloud was concerned for Klein's survival against such a big guild like the Holy Dragon Alliance, he took his leader's order and ran over to Cloud.

"Come on, we gotta get to the tree! The boss will be there soon!" Cloud cried out as he ran past Kirito and in the direction of the fir tree

Kirito looked in Cloud's direction and back at the Klein and his men stand guard in front of the Holy Dragon Alliance. Kirito silently cursed himself as he then ran in the same direction that Cloud was running.

For the past few minutes, Kirito and Cloud have been running towards the giant fir tree in the middle of the forest. Eventually, they both finally met their destination. They both stood there in front of the tree, waiting for whenever Nicholas the Renegade was going to appear. However, Kirito was really unhappy over the fact that facing Nicholas alone is no longer an option.

"This wasn't how things were supposed to go down." Kirito said as he clenched his fists "I was to either die by Nicholas's hands because I was too weak to do anything or defeat Nicholas on my own in order to see if I could revive Sachi and find out what she was trying to tell me before she died."

Cloud gently placed his hand on Kirito's shoulder.

"Then let's beat Nicholas together, we can ensure that you hear it from her yourself." Cloud said

Suddenly, a loud bell has rung. The sounds of the bell echoed across the entire forest, making it clear to Kirito and Cloud that it was now midnight. They both suddenly heard the echoes of silver bells from just up above them. Kirito and Cloud looked up at they snowy sky as a giant sleigh flying across the sky. After the sleigh flew over both Kirito and Cloud's head as well as over the fir tree, they noticed something big falling from the sky and crash land onto the snowy ground, causing a wave of snow to block their view.

After the snow wave finally cleared out of the way, Kirito and Cloud spotted the big man himself. Nicholas The Renegade was a literal big being that could only be best described as a twisted version of Santa Claus with a pale blue face and yellow-white hair. It has red, strabismic eyes, and has a spiky mustache and beard. Nicholas carried with him a big steel axe in his right hand and a large filled sack in his left hand. Nicholas' health meters started to fill up, going up to a total of four health meters.

Kirito and Cloud drew their weapons from their backs and got into their stances.

"Let's do this." Kirito said and Cloud nodded in agreement

Nicholas rose his axe high in the air, ready to strike down anything that came his way. Kirito and Cloud ran up to Nicholas with their swords ready and sword skills prepared for use. They both knew that if the rare item drop is what it is rumored to be, they both new that this boss fight was going to be their toughest one yet, especially since it's just the two of them. But they were ready to give it everything they've got. They had to win for Kirito's sake.

The battle between Kirito and Cloud and Nicholas took up to a total of two whole hours. It was a very close fight, Kirito and Cloud were both currently in the red of their health meters, but they both made it. They defeated Nicholas the Renegade and Kirito was now holding the drop item in his hands. Cloud watched as Kirito held the item up close and read the item's description. Unfortunately, Kirito's hopeful face turned dull and empty of emotion shortly afterwards. Kirito then looked at Cloud and threw it his way, making Cloud catch it. Cloud looked at the item and opened up it's item name and description file. Cloud read the item's name, which was: Divine Stone of Returning Soul. Cloud smiled very brightly.

"So, it's true. Players really can be brought back." Cloud said in a really cheerful tone

"Read the description." Kirito said emotionlessly

Cloud looked at the item's description right below the item's name.

"Let's see. It says it must be administrated to an affected player…" Cloud said as his eyes widened at the rest of the description "…Within ten seconds?!"

"If someone ever dies in front of you one day, Cloud, make sure you use that." Kirito said as he then started walking away

Cloud stood there for a while as he watched Kirito slowly walk away, but Cloud felt a sense of unease at seeing his friend so broken after having his hopes of bringing back Sachi be dashed. Cloud couldn't let his friend continue feeling like this, not when it's now officially Christmas Day. Cloud ran after him.

"Kirito, wait!" Cloud called out to Kirito as he caught up to him "Please let me keep you company tonight. It's already Christmas and nobody should ever have to be sad and alone on this special day."

Kirito stood there in silence with no trace of emotion on his face.

"…Whatever…" Kirito said blankly as he then continued walking away

Cloud took this as Kirito saying "Yes" and followed him. Kirito and Cloud ended up passing by Klein and the rest of the Fuurinkazan, who were all down on the ground exhausted from their battle against the Holy Dragon Alliance. Cloud had to say, he was truly amazed that Klein and the others were able to fight off against such a big guild. Klein noticed the two of them and asked how it went. Cloud showed Klein the revival item and explained how the item works, also adding in the fact that it's now officially impossible to bring Sachi back, which only ended up devastating Kirito. Klein then asked Cloud to keep an eye on Kirito for tonight, which Cloud responded he had already planned to do.

Kirito and Cloud went back up to Floor Forty Nine while Klein and the others went back to their current headquarters. Kirito and Cloud rented a bedroom with two beds for the night at the town's local inn. Once they were both in their room, Cloud sat down on one of the beds while Kirito sat down at a desk that was up against a window. Kirito sat there looking out at the town with still no expression on his face. Cloud looked over at Kirito and grew more concerned.

"Kirito…" Cloud said silently

"…I failed to keep Sachi safe, and my only way of knowing what she was trying to say to me is way past expired." Kirito said silently as he continued to look out the window "What am I supposed to do now?"

Suddenly, a silent little alarm sound started going off as a big yellow button was flashing in front of Kirito. Kirito pressed onto the yellow button and saw a small little message appear in front of him. The message wrote: Gift Box from Sachi. Kirito's eyes widened as emotion had officially returned to his eyes.

"Sachi…" Kirito said which got Cloud's full attention

Kirito pressed onto the messaged and watched as a little diamond shaped object slowly floated down into Kirito's hands. As the diamond shaped object hovered over Kirito's left hand, Kirito pressed a tiny little blue button he saw at the top. The corners of the object lit up in a blue color while the inside was filled up with what looked like little yellow specks of light.

"Merry Christmas, Kirito." Sachi's voice came from the object

Kirito silently gasped in huge surprise as Cloud suddenly stood up from the bed and walked over to the desk. It was a message recorder.

"By the time you hear this, I'll probably be dead." Sachi's message continued "How should I best explain this? Let's see…To tell you the truth, ever since Akihiko Kayaba trapped everyone here in this game, I never wanted to leave the Town of Beginnings. I also knew that if I fought with an attitude like that, I would only end up dying someday. But that's not anyone's fault, Kirito, not even yours. That's something only I have to deal with. Kirito, ever since that night you found me under the bridge, you kept on telling me that I wasn't going to die no matter what, and that you'd always protect me…but what if I got killed anyway? I knew that if that ever happened, you'd only blame yourself. That's why I decided to record this message for you, to tell you to not let my death act as a sign of you being a weak person, Kirito. You're not weak. You're strong, you're the strongest person I've ever had the pleasure to meet. And I know because I actually know how strong you really are as a player. I'm sorry, I sort of peaked at your level when you had your menu open when you were giving Cloud his birthday present. I've been wondering why you never told any of us the truth of what level you really were. I never did figure it out though, but I always trusted that you had a good reason to. And what's more, it made me feel so happy and so safe to know that I had someone like you be part of my guild and my group of friends. And speaking of friends, Kirito, I meant what I said. You truly are lucky to have someone like Cloud as your friend, someone who is always willing to stick up for you and be by your side, even if he is rather crude about it. So that's why, even when I die, I want you to promise me that you will go on living. Okay, Kirito? Stay alive and see the end of this world and find out why it was created. I know that a weakling like me could never make it to the end to figure out why Sword Art Online was made and why I and many other got trapped in here, but if there is any kind of reason as to why you and I have met, I hope it was for a wonderful reason. And most importantly, I want you to stay alive so that you can help as many other people as you possibly can escape from this game and return to all their friends and family in the real world, and that you can return to your life in the real world too. That's my wish for you, Kirito. Please, never forget that you are strong, you are capable of helping others, and that you have Cloud to always be there for you whenever you need someone to help you stand up. You are worth the world, Kirito, never forget that is the truth…Seems like I still have some time left so, seeing how it's Christmas and all, I will sing you a song."

Kirito and Cloud listened as Sachi sang the first verse and the chorus of Silver Bells in a voice that sounded truly angelic. Kirito's eyes were filling up with tears from the sound of Sachi's beautiful singing voice. Her singing made him remanence of the first time they met, the night he found her under the bridge, the same night where they slept in the same bed together, the time she first held his hand, and the night where she called Kirito her knight and planted a kiss on his cheek. So many memories that Kirito had of Sachi, but the one thing they all had in common was that beautiful smile that Sachi always had on her face, that beautiful smile that Kirito fell hard for.

"Anyway, Kirito…" Sachi's message continued "…I'm so glad I met you, and that I got to be with you and feel safe, even for a little while. You truly are my knight, and I love you…Thank you…Goodbye."

The message officially came to an end and the yellow specks of light all vanished and the corners of the message recorder all dimmed out. The message recorder stopped hovering and fell down onto the table. Kirito felt the tears roll down his cheeks. If it weren't for those last words in Sachi's message, Kirito probably never would have realized how much he loved Sachi.

"…Cloud…" Kirito said as his voiced cracked

"Yeah?" Cloud asked as he looked down at Kirito

Cloud was suddenly caught off guard when Kirito pulled him into a hug and started sobbing into his shirt.

"I'm sorry, Cloud!" Kirito sobbed "I'm sorry I brought up your father abandoning you and tried to push you away!"

Cloud's heart started to feel heavy at the sight of his friend sobbing and apologizing like this. Cloud placed his hand on top of Kirito's head.

"It's okay, Kirito, it's okay." Cloud said in a soothing voice "I'm sorry too. I'm sorry I said Sachi got cocky, reckless, and bit off more than she could chew. That was very wrong of me to say, and I'm sorry I punched you."

Kirito continued to sob into Cloud's shirt while Cloud thought about the song that Sachi was singing and understood that she had only done the first verse and the chorus. Cloud decided that, because it is Christmas time, he would finish the song. Much to Kirito's surprise, Cloud had a fairly decent singing voice. It wasn't as beautiful as Sachi's, but it was still pretty good. Thankfully, Cloud finishing up the rest of the song seemed to have calmed Kirito down.

Kirito made an official vow in his head. He vowed that he will fulfil Sachi's dying wish. He will continue to be strong, stay by Cloud's side, help as many more people as he can, clear the game and figure out why it was created, and return everyone to their friends in family in the real world. As he vowed to make Sachi's dying wish come true, he vowed to never let anything stand in his way. Whatever was to come, he and Cloud would face them together and they will win no matter what.


End file.
